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.

Comments

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...

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...

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog