Skip to main content

Progress Energy Selects Harris Site for Combined License

Progress Energy just announced it will prepare a combined construction and operating license (COL) for its Harris Nuclear Plant, southwest of Raleigh, N.C.

The company also announced it has selected Westinghouse Electric Company to supply the reactors for the potential future expansion of Progress Energy's nuclear generation in the Carolinas. These announcements are important next steps in the process as the company continues to evaluate options to meet the demands of its rapidly growing customer base.

...

"A renewed emphasis on conservation and energy efficiency is an important factor in planning for the future," said [Bob McGehee, chairman and CEO of Progress Energy]. "However, even with more conservation and energy-efficiency programs, energy use will continue to grow as more people move to this region. To meet that growing demand for electricity, we'll need to add significant new power generation.

...

The company informed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in August 2005 of its plans to submit a combined operating license (COL) application for a nuclear power plant. It updated those plans Nov. 1, 2005, to include a second COL, one for Florida and one for the Carolinas. Each COL covers up to two reactors at each site.

This step is necessary to obtain a license should the company decide that a new nuclear unit is the best option for meeting the need for additional generation. The application for the COL could be filed in late 2007 or early 2008. If approved by the NRC -- and if the decision to build is made -- construction could begin as early as 2010, and a new plant could be online around 2016.
Technorati tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great news.
Has anyone compiled and published a complete list of announcemnts?

Both COL and ESP?
Anonymous said…
Dang, answer my own question:

http://www.nei.org/index.asp?catnum=3&catid=1109

Matthew
Matthew66 said…
Given that Carolina Power & Light originally had construction permits for four reactors at Shearon Harris (3 & 4 canceled in 1981, 2 canceled in 1983), I have no doubt that if the COL is properly prepared, and the application process properly conducted by the NRC, the COL will be granted in due course. There may be existing works at the site, such as transmission infrastructure, that can be utilized in any new build. Here's hoping that Progress energy can help clean up the air.

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