POWER April 2011 - 64

NUCLEAR
the nuclear industry assembled in Maryland,
as " very, very strong. " A year ago, Energy
Secretary Steven Chu wrote in the Wall Street
Journal, " If we are serious about cutting carbon
pollution then nuclear power must be
part of the solution. " The Obama administration
says it is very serious about carbon.
Feds Show Support
The White House appears to be ready to put
real money behind its rhetoric. For the second
year in a row, the administration says it
will try to expand the nuclear loan guarantee
pool by $36 billion, to a total of $54.5 billion.
By most industry estimates, that ought to be
enough to finance six to eight new reactors,
Lyon said. The White House also is asking
Congress for $67 million to finance a competition
among developers of small, modular
reactors. The goal is to pick two light-water
designs that would move forward into the
commercial market.
On top of that, the administration is proposing
substantial funding for a range of
existing nuclear power research, development,
and deployment activities: next-generation
reactors, spent fuel disposal, and
research on getting uranium from seawater.
Overall, the administration's proposed
nuclear energy budget is $852 million,
down insignificantly from the 2011 proposal
for $858 million.
A Rational Schedule for New Nuclear Development
Four years ago, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) reported that
it had " expressions of interest " from 16
companies for 32 new nuclear units and,
in parallel, applications for certification
of multiple reactor technologies. As of
the end of January 2011, there were a
dozen companies in the NRC's active
queue, representing 20 units.
Individual projects in the graphic below
are sorted by reactor technology and
together are noted as " Design Center Review. "
The ABWR design, certified in 1997,
has a parallel Design Certification Renewal
Industry and government veteran Bill
Magwood, now a member of the NRC, told
the meeting that attitudes in the immediate
post-2005 period were unrealistic, but
they have evolved. " Some years, we were
very upbeat, " he said. " Some years we have
been very down. " He noted that, back in the
mid-1990s, there just wasn't much discussion
about a future for nuclear energy. But
the price of natural gas spiked, ending the
1990s " dash-to-gas, " the worldwide climate
became an issue, and interest in nuclear
power rebounded.
Describing the immediate post-2005 period,
Magwood borrowed from former Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, characprocess
that occurs every 15 years. The
NRC formally accepted the renewable application
on February 23, well before the
existing certification deadline of June
2012. Also note the final four reactor suppliers.
These recent additions to the certification
queue are " advanced reactors, "
including the 125-MW Babcock & Wilcox
mPower small, modular reactor.
The schedules shown depict completion
of staff safety and environmental reviews.
Issuance of license is dependent upon
completion of a hearing process as well as
design certification rulemaking for the selected
design. The schedule begin data is
reflected as the docketing date, or expected
docketing date, following staff acceptance
review. Schedules depicted for future activities
represent nominal assumed review
durations based on submittal time frames
in letters of intent from prospective applicants,
although actual schedules are used
wherever possible or are based on the best
information available to the NRC staff. The
latest schedule information is available on
the NRC website. The number in parentheses
next to a COL name indicates the number
of units per site.
3. New U.S. reactor licensing applications. Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Combined
construction
and operating
license
Received, scheduled
Received, schedule under review
Projected
2005
2006
2007
ABWR design center review
South Texas project (2)
STP AIA DC Amendment
Rulemaking
ABWR design certification renewal
Toshiba DC renewal
GE-Hitachi DC renewal
2008
2009
2010
2011
1/27/11
Schedule under review pending receipt of information
Safety review completed
Scheduled
Not scheduled
Rulemaking
Rulemaking
Not scheduled
Under acceptance review
Under acceptance review
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017 2018
Design
certification
Early site
permit
Rulemaking
64
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POWER April 2011

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