Power Engineering - Companies agree to work on new nuclear licensing procedures

1 April 2004 - Five leading energy companies and two nuclear reactor vendors plan to form a consortium that will work with the US Department of Energy to demonstrate and test a new licensing process for obtaining a Combined Construction and Operating License for advanced nuclear power reactors.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding expressing their intent to form the consortium. Neither the planned consortium nor its members are making a commitment to build a new nuclear unit at this time.

The consortium will prepare a proposal in response to a DOE solicitation last November asking energy companies to demonstrate the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's new COL process.

The companies are Constellation Generation Group, a subsidiary of Constellation Energy, Baltimore; EDF International North America, Washington, a subsidiary of the large French utility; Entergy Nuclear, Jackson, Miss.; Exelon Generation, Philadelphia; Southern Company, Atlanta; and two nuclear reactor vendors, Westinghouse Electric Co., Pittsburgh, and GE Energy's nuclear operations, Wilmington, N.C.

Each energy company is expected to contribute to the consortium about $1 million a year in cash plus in-kind and administrative services, totalling about $7 million over seven years each.

The consortium plans to submit its proposal as part of DOE's Nuclear Power 2010 programme; a joint government/industry cost-sharing initiative designed to conduct regulatory demonstrations and advanced reactor development activities. Demonstrating that the NRC's new licensing process can result in a COL reduces some business uncertainty for companies interested in building new nuclear plants.

The new COL licensing process was established by the NRC in 1992 to streamline obtaining a new license and to add some certainty but has never been tested.

"Advanced nuclear plants offer a promising potential -- passive safety designs, stable fuel prices, lower production costs than other fuels used to generate electricity and a very low environmental impact," said Gary J. Taylor, president, CEO and chief nuclear officer of Entergy Nuclear.

Chris Crane, president and chief nuclear officer of Exelon Nuclear, which owns 17 reactors, said, "To protect consumers against spiking energy prices and for our own national security, we need to maintain fuel diversity in the energy industry. Nuclear energy is safe, reliable and non-carbon emitting. We must keep the nuclear energy option open for the future."

The consortium's objective is to demonstrate the COL process by obtaining the first COL license in the new process. The individual members of the consortium would make a decision on construction of a new nuclear plant at a later date.

The consortium's proposal, if approved and co-funded by DOE, would determine the best-cost estimate yet for building and operating a new nuclear plant. More detailed engineering work would be done on advanced nuclear reactor designs than ever before. The two reactor designs selected by the consortium for further engineering work are Westinghouse's Advanced Passive 1000 and General Electric's ESBWR.

The consortium plans to complete the COL application and submit it to the NRC in 2008. After a decision by the NRC, projected in late 2010, any combination of the consortium's members could use the COL, should they decide to build a new plant.

Catherine Gaujacq, president of EDF International North America, said, "EDF has a long tradition of evaluating nuclear plant designs and will have a great opportunity to do so by joining this effort. We are proud to partner with the best nuclear utilities in the U.S. by bringing our successful reactor design experience and as operators of a standardized fleet of 58 reactors in France."

"Constellation Energy views nuclear power as a safe, efficient and economical source of power for the future," said Michael J. Wallace, president of Constellation Generation Group. "While Constellation Energy has no immediate plans for the construction of a new nuclear facility, our decision to join this consortium is indicative of our strong desire to see the process by which new plants are sited streamlined to support efficient construction in the future. To that end, we look forward to working with the Department of Energy in testing the NRC's new combined construction and operating licensing process."

Marilyn Kray, a vice president at Exelon Nuclear, Kennett Square, Penn., has been selected as the consortium's executive lead and contact for DOE.

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