Skip to main content

NuStart Energy Press Conference

Last week we told you about how NuStart Energy had selected six finalists as possible sites to test the NRC combined construction and operating license process. Steve Kerekes, our head of media relations, was at their Washington, D.C. press conference earlier today, and sent along this report.
Sixteen reporters turned out for this afternoon's 40 minute NuStart news conference at the National Press Club. A handful of folks from the Hill as well.

Event went well; about a dozen good questions after the remarks by DOE's Clay Sell, NEI's Marv Fertel and NuStart's (Exelon's) Marilyn Kray. Lots of solid curiosity. NuStart members well-represented at the head table -- which I actually felt was perhaps the most notable aspect of the event. It sent a strong signal about industry commitment to advance the ball.

Vendors said a 48-month construction timetable is do-able. Kray said industry prides itself on planning and preparedness, and wants to be ready when the market is ripe for new baseload. Marv expressed confidence in the Yucca Mountain program, particularly with where the program will be in the 2008 time frame when consortium intends to to submit COL application to NRC. Several company reps said that feedback from the political communities and Wall Street is favorable. Kray said the consortium is encouraged both by its financial analyses and the support it sees in Congress with regard to energy legislation. And, last but not least, Sell said, "This administration believes nuclear power is back."

For more about NuStart, read their FAQ.

Technorati tags: , , , , ,

Comments

Anonymous said…
See more positive response in the following article:

"Legislators go to work"

By Ken Bonner
The Daily Sentinel
Published May 26, 2005

Monday’s announcement that TVA’s Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Hollywood is a finalist for an advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) could be good news for the area...

See the full article at:
http://www.thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=de69383b540edc6b

Popular posts from this blog

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap

An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear Plants

Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin