Duke Team at NRC to Discuss Possible New Reactor

A team from Duke Power was at the NRC yesterday to meet with commission staff to discuss the utility's possible plan for building a new nuclear reactor somewhere in their service area:

During a meeting Monday at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that licenses nuclear reactors, Duke officials said the company will decide around May whether to apply for a combined license to construct and operate a plant.

If Duke's decision is yes, the goal then would be to pick a site and a design technology by the end of the year, said Bryan Dolan, Duke's managing director for new nuclear projects.

But even then, Duke may decide not to build it.

Dolan and seven other Duke officials met for more than two hours with staff members from the NRC's New Reactors section, asking and answering questions about all aspects of the application process -- timetables, costs, issues that would have to be reviewed under various scenarios.

With Duke still mum about so many details, the NRC staff's answers were often generic. Still, NRC spokesman Scott Burnell called Monday's meeting "the most concrete discussions we've had for a license for a new reactor in at least 20 years ... (Duke) is further along than other utilities in talking about it."

For a look at the announcement that started it all back in February, click here.

UPDATE: Here's more on the Duke meeting (registration required), as well as a detailed rundown on all of the new reactor designs from Matthew Wald at the New York Times.

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