Site For Nuclear Plant Narrowed
A consortium of utilities narrowed the potential locations for what could be the first nuclear power plant built in the United States in more than three decades.
The group chose sites of existing nuclear power plants in Mississippi and Alabama.
The consortium emphasized that no decision had yet been made on whether to seek a license for a new plant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The group is developing an application for advanced approval of the two sites, which would allow for quicker completion of the project if a go ahead is given.
The group decided the new reactors would be built if a go ahead is given adjacent to the existing Grand Gulf power plant, operated by Entergy near Port Gibson, Miss. and at the site of the yet unfinished Bellefonte twin reactors, owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority near Scottsboro, Ala.
The announcement by Nustart Energy Development, a consortium of eight utilities and two reactor manufacturers, is the latest development reflecting the intense interest by the electric power industry to build a new reactor to meet growing electricity needs.
"Our country needs these advanced nuclear plants. We must reduce our dependence on imported foreign energy," said Marilyn Kray, president of Nustart and an executive of Exelon, the country's largest operator of nuclear power plants.
No new nuclear power plant has been ordered in the United States since 1973 and interest soured after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. But in recent years nuclear plants have become more efficient and more profitable. Congress also recently gave the industry new subsidies to promote new reactor construction including an "insurance" against financial losses caused by regulatory delays.
At least eight utilities, including all the major operators of nuclear power plants, have been testing the regulatory environment to determine how fast a new reactor might get approved by the NRC. Though no final decision on a project has been announced, several companies have indicated they would like to build a new reactor by 2010.
Three reactor vendors: Westinghouse, General Electric and the French company AREVA, are competing with different new reactor designs.
Under the Nustart plan, the reactor at Grand Gulf would be a GE designed reactor, while the one in Alabama would use a Westinghouse design.
The Nustart consortium was created to develop an application for a construction and operating license for at least two new reactors. Once received from the NRC, any of the group's members or a combination of members could use the license if it finally decides to build a new reactor.