EnergyBiz - November/December 2007 - (Page 70)

» IntRoDuCInG Nuclear Helmsman thE FEdS gEAr up For nEw nuClEAr ErA by MArtin roSEnbErg dale kleIN waNts utIlItIes eaGer to buIld New NuClear power plaNts – the first in a generation – to make sure they are developing a cadre of senior executives capable of running the gleaming new units. And he worries about possible bottlenecks in securing key components as orders for new nuclear units around the globe surge. Klein, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has overseen the muscling up of his agency to a total of 3,536 employees as it prepares to deal with a flurry of new license applications. The new reactor office employs 348, on its way to 480. Meanwhile, the office monitoring existing, operating reactors employs 533. He has worked for the U.S. Department of Defense for five years. Prior to that he was vice chancellor of special engineering at the University of Texas, where he published 100 papers and delivered more than 300 talks. Klein, 60, loves woodworking. He and his wife continue their love affair with Colorado’s towering peaks, having climbed more than a dozen of the 53 alpine skyscrapers in the state that top 14,000 feet, including Mt. Evans and Pike’s Peak this year. EnergyBiz recently interviewed Klein as his agency takes on the towering assignment of making sure the United States can once again safely and reliably build nuclear power plants. His comments, edited for style and length, follow. How many new nuclear units are being planned? The numbers will bounce around, but we have about 19 different entities that have expressed interest in a little over 30 units. ENERGYBIZ klEin ENERGYBIZ Russia has announced plans to double its nuclear fleet. Is that realistic? klEin I don’t think they have the people or the quality control to do it. ENERGYBIZ Outside the United States, 31 nuclear plants are being built. klEin Yes. They are being built in Japan, finland, france…. ENERGYBIZ In a few years the United States is going to start work on 30. What kind of constraints will that put in terms of supplies and workers? klEin It’s going to be a huge constraint on equipment. If you look globally, a lot of the nuclear suppliers for these major components are already at capacity. So it will put a strained capacity on long lead items like steam generators and pressure vessels. Some of the lead times are as much as four years. As a regulator, we’re looking at which companies are getting into the queue for major forgings because almost all of them go back to Japan Steel Works. We’re watching the utilities that are making these long-term commitments to the forgings. That tells us which license application is likely to result in a plant actually being built. ENERGYBIZ Will such factors influence the order in which you will consider license applications? klEin If we end up with a manpower crunch, yes. Right now we believe that we’ve hired enough and trained enough that we can handle all the applications coming at us. But if we end up getting into a personnel shortage, then we will prioritize those that we believe will actually be building. ENERGYBIZ What will be the status of all the nuclear projects in one decade? klEin A decade out you’ll see most of the 30 units under construction if not about ready to turn on electricity generation. Certain utilities are moving very logically in parallel with our reviews. So as the NRC is looking at the license review, they are ordering components and doing limited site work. How many license applications do you anticipate? We expect probably during this calendar year, anywhere from three to five. In 2008, we expect more than 10 more applications. Some of those will be for dual units. I believe that we will have more than 20 reactors by the end of 2008 that we will have license applications for. ENERGYBIZ klEin What steps will you follow? first we will look at the application to make sure that it’s complete. That could take up to 60 days. If it’s complete we will start our technical review, and we have planned 30 months for that, and then another 12 months for the hearing process. We expect to get challenges on the first few, and so we have allowed for 12 months for that contested hearing. ENERGYBIZ klEin ENERGYBIZ So you think the whole process will be 44 months roughly speaking? klEin Yes. If we can do it quicker with no compromise on safety, we will. But our first goal is to make sure that we do it right. We’ll probably take a little bit longer on the first ones just to make sure that it’s complete and we’re looking at the right things. Once we go through some of those, I would expect the review to get more efficient with no compromise on safety. ENERGYBIZ Do you feel we’re being aggressive enough in pursuit of nuclear power? klEin for the first few, I would like to have the best designers, the best builders, and the best inspectors. Our first ones should have our best people on them so that we don’t do what’s happening right now in finland. finland is about now 20 months or so into their new nuclear project and they are 24 months behind. I don’t think Areva understood the weather conditions in finland. I would rather that we do more planning so that when we start the actual construction that we do it on time, on budget and safely. 70 E n E rgyB i z November/December 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EnergyBiz - November/December 2007

EnergyBiz - November/December 2007 Contents Continental Grid Vision Needed Readers’ Views and Opinions Next for National Grid Clearing the Air The Need for Nuclear Energy Trade Status Report The Innovators California On The Leading Edge FERC Sparks Change Getting Coal Right Leadership in Times of Turmoil Innovation Delivers Return A Tale of Two IPOs LNGs Bright Prospects Generation Techologies The Age of Superconductors Leaders with Vision Get Ready for Plug-in Hybrids Betting on Batteries Cost of Decarbonizing Nuclear Helmsman – A chat with Dale Klein, Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Global Energy Snapshot; Low-Income Energy Help; IT Spending Robust; The Greening of State Regulators; Generating Support Simplifying Offshore Wind Regs Chasing Construction Costs Energy Agency Sets New Course Deregulation Means Higher Rates Go-To Staffer Nightmare in Manhatten

EnergyBiz - November/December 2007

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