DoE Praises NRC Approval of First U.S. Nuclear Plant Site in 30 Years

March 20, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) commended the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision to approve the first-ever early site permit (ESP) for the Exelon Generation Co. Clinton site in central Illinois.

This decision marks a major milestone in the president's plan to expand the use of safe and clean nuclear power, said the DoE. As part of President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative - which seeks to change the way the U.S. powers the nation - nuclear power will play an increasingly important role as the demand for electricity grows worldwide.

"Government's role is to create an environment in which clean energy can flourish and I'm proud to say that we're helping doing just that," said Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman.

"NRC approval of the Clinton early site permit represents a major accomplishment in this administration’s effort to address the barriers and stimulate deployment of new nuclear power plants in the United States. By demonstrating effectiveness and predictability in the licensing process, utilities will have the information they need to make sound business decisions that can lead to the construction of new nuclear power plants."

This ESP approval culminates a four-year, cost-shared project with the DoE and Exelon Corp. aimed at demonstrating the new and previously untested licensing process for locating new nuclear plants in the U.S.

Exelon submitted their ESP application, which includes a site safety analysis report, an environmental report and an emergency plan to the NRC in September 2003. The NRC issued the final safety evaluation report in May 2006, the final environmental impact statement in July 2006 and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) hearings concluded in early November 2006.

The DoE partnered with Exelon and two other companies, Entergy and Dominion Energy, since September 2002 to demonstrate the ESP process. This process was established by NRC in 1989 for utilities to complete the site and environmental evaluations before a decision is made to build a nuclear plant.

Once issued, the ESP is valid for 20 years and can be used in conjunction with a subsequent combined construction and operating license application. A decision on the Entergy Grand Gulf ESP is expected within the month and later this year on Dominion's North Anna ESP.

The vote also supports the DoE's Nuclear Power 2010 (NP 2010) program, a joint government/industry cost-shared effort to identify sites for new nuclear power plants, develop and bring to market advanced nuclear plant technologies, evaluate the business case for building new nuclear power plants and demonstrate untested regulatory processes.

President Bush's fiscal year (FY) 2008 budget requests $874.2M ($241M, 38.2% increase over the FY 2007 request) for the DoE's Office of Nuclear Energy. Of that request, $114M ($60M, 111% increase over the FY 2007 request) was allocated for NP 2010 to complete the remaining ESP demonstration projects and continue the new nuclear plant licensing demonstration projects.

This funding will allow continued reactor designs and implement further successful licensing interactions with industry to build new nuclear plants by 2009, said the DoE.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).