Power Engineering - Unistar Nuclear accelerates its pace for early reviews by the NRC

15 August 2006 -- UniStar Nuclear, the jointly developed enterprise of Constellation Energy and AREVA, has advanced the submittal of documents in support of its application for a new nuclear power plant license. The company submitted the entire quality assurance (QA) program document to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The QA program will govern the design, construction and operation of a planned potential fleet of U.S. EPR advanced nuclear power plants to be built in the United States.

UniStar Nuclear's QA program submittal is the first from the nuclear industry exclusively related to a license application that will be sent in under the NRC's combined construction and operating license application (COLA) process. The timing demonstrates UniStar Nuclear's commitment to its principle of working effectively with the NRC toward early review and issue resolution in licensing much-needed, emissions-free new nuclear generating capacity in the U.S.

"Being first with this submittal demonstrates our steadfast commitment to meeting or exceeding key deliverable dates in a disciplined fashion consistent with the new licensing process," said George Vanderheyden, president of UniStar Nuclear. "Early submission of thoroughly detailed, stand-alone documents related to the license application helps the NRC manage its resources more effectively and moves us further along the path to new nuclear power generation in the near term."

UniStar Nuclear is exceeding expectations and accelerating the review process with the NRC by submitting this document two months prior to the target deadline of September 2006. This QA submittal provides the NRC staff with the information needed to make a full and complete evaluation of this section in support of the COLA process.

"We are aware of the resource challenges that could face the commission in the years ahead," said Vanderheyden. "This document submittal is just one of the milestones in our licensing strategy that demonstrates our commitment to working with commissioners and staff in innovative ways to bring certainty and predictability to the new combined licensing process."

The Quality Assurance program is required by the licensing process and lays out the quality assurance requirements for the proposed fleet of U.S. EPR advanced nuclear power plants. This program provides the standards and requirements that will ensure the highest standards of quality, accuracy and completeness across all aspects of plant design, construction and operations.

"We focused on the QA program now, for two main reasons," said Rod Krich, senior vice president for regulatory affairs, who is leading UniStar Nuclear's licensing work and serves as the primary contact with the NRC. "The NRC has asked that early submissions be complete and the QA program can be reviewed as a complete stand-alone document. Also, since this document lays out the QA basis going forward, it provides a fleet standard to ensure consistent quality standards are applied across all potential future UniStar Nuclear projects."

The early submission of this application-related document allows UniStar Nuclear to stay ahead of schedule toward submitting the completed reference COLA for the planned U.S. EPR fleet by June 2008.

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