WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards to two nuclear utility-led consortia under the Nuclear Power 2010 program. DOE will begin the first phase of Nuclear Plant Licensing Demonstration projects with industry teams led by Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion and Chester County, Pennsylvania-based NuStart Energy. These projects are designed to demonstrate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) process for licensing the construction and operation of new Generation III+ nuclear power plants.
The Nuclear Power 2010 program, announced by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham in February 2002, is an important component of the department’s strategy to implement President’s Bush’s National Energy Policy recommendation to expand the role of nuclear energy in the United States as a major component of our Nation’s energy policy. Nuclear power accounts for 20 percent of America’s electricity requirements. The projects announced today will demonstrate the untested combined Construction and Operating License (COL) regulatory process and will enable the power generation companies to make firm business decisions on ordering and building new nuclear power plants.
“Nuclear power is the only large-scale source of domestically produced electricity that does not produce greenhouse gases,” Secretary Abraham said. “It is, therefore, one of our most important energy sources today and has tremendous potential to support the Nation’s energy and environmental goals in the future. We appreciate the industry’s enthusiastic response to our initiatives and the leadership Senators Pete Domenici, Larry Craig, and Mike Crapo have brought to this effort.”
“The consortia that have come together to pursue this important work represent the heart of the U.S. nuclear industry,” Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle E. McSlarrow said. “We are very pleased that our Nuclear Power 2010 program has helped the industry organize itself to advance the prospects for building new nuclear power plants to meet our Nation’s energy requirements. There is a lot of hard work ahead and we look forward to working with industry to take the next steps in this vital energy security initiative.”
The Dominion project could lead to a license to build and operate an Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd (AECL) Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR‑700) at the North Anna site in Louisa County, Va. The Dominion-led team includes AECL and its U.S. subsidiary AECL Technologies of Frederick, Md.; Bechtel Power Corporation of Frederick, Md.; and Hitachi America Inc, located in Tarrytown, N.Y. If a nuclear power plant order results from this work, Dominion potentially could have a new nuclear power plant in operation as early as 2014.
The NuStart Energy consortium will evaluate the Westinghouse Advanced Passive Pressurized Water Reactor (AP-1000) and the General Electric Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR). The consortium plans to select a final reactor technology and a site by 2007. If a nuclear power plant order results from this work, NuStart Energy could also have a new nuclear power plant in operation as early as 2014.
NuStart Energy consists of nine nuclear power companies – Exelon Generation, Philadelphia, Pa.; Entergy Nuclear, Jackson, Miss.; Southern Company, Atlanta, Ga.; Constellation Generation Group, Baltimore, Md.; Duke Energy, Charlotte, N.C.; Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tenn.; Florida Power & Light Company, Juno Beach, Fla.; Progress Energy, Raleigh, N.C., and EDF International North America, Washington, D.C., and two reactor vendors - General Electric and Westinghouse Electric Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Cooperative agreements for each of these projects are anticipated to be in place by December 2004 and a detailed project planning phase will be completed in FY 2005. A final decision by the department and the industry consortia whether to proceed to the implementation phase of the projects will be made during the project planning phase.
The projects were proposed by Dominion and NuStart Energy in response to a Nuclear Power 2010 program financial assistance solicitation issued by DOE on Nov. 20, 2003. For more information about the department’s nuclear technology activities, please visit the nuclear program website at www.nuclear.gov.
Media contacts:
Joe Davis, 202/586-4940
Hope Williams, 202/586-5806
