Philadelphia, PA — Jan. 22, 2008 — NuStart Energy Development says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) acceptance of a license application for TVA’s Bellefonte nuclear site shows the electric power industry is taking the right steps to prepare for potential new nuclear construction.
“The NRC’s initial review of our reference application confirms it has the information required by the new regulatory process and that the information is technically sufficient for further, detailed review,” said Marilyn Kray, president of NuStart.
NuStart Energy Development, whose 10 member utilities provide more than 60 percent of the electricity generated by nuclear power in the U.S., helped develop the Bellefonte application as the reference application for the new Westinghouse AP 1000™ design.
“The results of the NRC staff’s sufficiency review of this application clearly demonstrate that the Department of Energy's Nuclear Power 2010 initiative and the industry’s commitment to standardization through high quality applications are achieving real results,” she said.
Kray credits the concept of a design-centered work group that focuses the industry’s engineering and technical expertise on a specific reactor design for achieving a high level of quality in the application.
“These encouraging initial results underscore the value of a shared focus, the use of industry experience, a commitment to quality, cooperation among utilities, and early engagement with the NRC. That level of effort helps ensure technical requirements are clearly understood and communicated, and genuinely helps drive standardization,” she said.
Based on its finding that the TVA application is technically complete and sufficiently addresses all necessary subject areas, NRC has established a docket for the reference COL and will begin a comprehensive and detailed review process. That process will include NRC requests for additional information and applicant responses, site visits, public hearings, development of environmental impact statements, and safety evaluation reports.
“We are pleased that TVA and NuStart have been able to provide a quality application on schedule,” said Ashok Bhatnagar, TVA’s Senior Vice President of Nuclear Generation Development and Construction. “Obtaining a license is a necessary step in further developing the nuclear option. Now that the NRC has determined our Bellefonte application is sufficient to begin the thorough and comprehensive review process, we’ll work to ensure we meet all regulatory requirements.”
NuStart acknowledges the significant workload ahead for the NRC staff as it reviews the first wave of applications expected under the revised licensing process. A high quality application with sufficient technical information helps the regulator begin and complete the full review with a minimal number of requests for additional information.
"The industry has an obligation to submit a quality application. Doing so enables the NRC to conduct an efficient and thorough review of the safety and environmental aspects of a proposed project. The TVA reference COL application consists of over 7,000 pages and required more than 100,000 work hours over a two-year period," said Kray.
Docketing the Bellefonte application is an important milestone in the overall objectives of NuStart and the Nuclear Power 2010 Program.
Formed in 2004 by 10 U.S. energy companies and two reactor vendors, NuStart’s primary objectives are to demonstrate the NRC’s new process for licensing new reactors in the United States and to complete the design engineering for two reactor technologies – the Westinghouse AP1000 and the GE-Hitachi Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR).
The U.S. Department of Energy chose NuStart in 2005 as a Nuclear Power 2010 award recipient to develop reference applications. Those applications contain standard licensing, engineering, technical, quality, and safety information that future applicants can use to develop their own site-specific applications more efficiently.
TVA submitted its reference application to NRC on Oct. 30, 2007, for the Bellefonte site in north Alabama. Duke Energy has since used generic portions of the document to prepare its own application for AP1000 reactors it is considering building to meet growing energy demands in the Carolinas.
NuStart worked with Dominion to develop the reference application for the GE-Hitachi ESBWR, which Dominion submitted to NRC in November 2007. Entergy, a NuStart member utility, and NuStart used the reference GEH ESBWR application to develop an application for Entergy’s Grand Gulf Nuclear Station. Entergy anticipates filing the Grand Gulf application in February.
Members of NuStart Energy consortium are:
DTE Energy, Detroit, MI, Duke Energy, Charlotte, NC, EDF International North America, Washington, D.C., Entergy Nuclear, Jackson, MS, Exelon Generation, Philadelphia, PA, Florida Power & Light Company, Juno Beach, FL, Progress Energy, Raleigh, NC, South Carolina Electric & Gas, Columbia, SC, Southern Company, Atlanta, GA, Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, TN, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Wilmington, NC, Westinghouse Electric Co., Pittsburgh, PA