POWER April 2011 - 65

NUCLEAR
terizing the time as one of " irrational exuberance. "
Now-after hydraulic fracking has
moved shale gas onto the energy stage, the
Congress has made it clear there will not be a
government price on the head of carbon dioxide,
and a prolonged recession has taken the
wind out of electricity demand and reduced
the need for new baseload capacity-the industry
has entered a period of what Magwood
describes as " cool, rational analysis. "
Many Approvals Remain
Four years ago, the NRC reported that it had
" expressions of interest " from 16 companies
for 32 new nuclear units that would be
reviewed under the agency's new combined
2005
2006
2007
AP1000 design center review
Issued
Southern - Vogtle ESP
Southern - Vogtle (GA) (2)
South Carolina E&G - Summer (2)
Progress Energy - Levy County (FL) (2)
Florida Power & Light - Turkey Point (2)
Duke - Lee Station (SC) (2)
Progress Energy - Harris (NC) (2)
TVA - Bellefonte (AL) (2)
EPR design center review
Design certification - EPR
Rulemaking
Unistar - Calvert Cliffs (MD) (1)
Ameren UE - Callaway (1)
PPL Generation - Bell Bend (1)
Unistar -Nine Mile Point (NY) (1)
ESBWR design center review
Design certification
- ESBWR
Issued
Dominion - North Anna (VA) (1)
Issued
Entergy - Grand Gulf (MS) (1)
US-APWR design center review
Design certification - US-APWR
Rulemaking
Luminant - Comanche Peak (TX) (2)
Dominion - North Anna (VA) (1)
KEPCO design center review
Unannounced technology
Issued
Southern - Greenfield site
Unnamed SCOL
PSEG ESP
Exelon - Victoria City (TX) (2)
Advanced reactors
Blue Castle Project (UT) (1)
Callaway (MO) (1)
NuScale DC
Rulemaking
B&W mPower DC
Rulemaking
TVA Clinch River Construction Permit Application
Not scheduled
TVA Clinch River Operating License Application
NGNP Prototype COL
April 2011 | POWER
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Not scheduled
65
Scheduled
Not scheduled
Scheduled
Not scheduled
Not scheduled
Not scheduled
Not scheduled
Not scheduled
Not scheduled
Applicant changed technology 6/30/10
Review suspended 01/09/09
Entergy - River Bend (LA) (1) Review suspended 01/09/09
DTE - Fermi (MI) (1)
Scheduled
Schedule under review pending receipt of information
Schedule dependent on DC review
Design certification - KEPCO
Rulemaking
Schedule under review pending receipt of information
Not scheduled
Not scheduled
Not scheduled
Published schedule
Rulemaking
Published schedule
Review suspended 6/23/2009
Schedule under review pending receipt of information
Review suspended 12/01/2009
DC amendment
Rulemaking
Issued
2008
construction and operating license (COL)
process. Today, according to Magwood, the
agency has merely a dozen active applications
in hand (see sidebar), representing 20
units. These, unlike the flood of four years
ago, represent " serious efforts. They are not
for show. " Magwood's clear implication was
that a lot of the early applications were atomic
window dressing.
The NRC's highly touted new licensing
process-designed to streamline regulators'
review-compresses the traditional review
under Title 50 of the U.S. Code of Federal
Regulations, which provides for one license
to build the plant and another license to operate
it once built, with a provision in Title 52
2009
2010
2011
1/27/11
Safety review completed
Not scheduled
Scheduled
Scheduled
Scheduled
Scheduled
Review suspended 9/29/2010
Scheduled
Scheduled
Scheduled
Schedule under review
Scheduled
2012
2013
of the code. The new title allows the NRC
to issue a " one-stop " license, combining construction
and operation reviews. That makes
taking a plant critical nearly automatic once
it is built. So far, the new COL remains untried
in its entirety.
The day the Platts nuclear conference
opened, the NRC announced final plans
for how it will conduct mandatory hearings
under the COL process. While the
law provides for hearings on contested licenses,
the NRC decided some time ago
that it will also hold separate hearings on
all license applications, whether contested
or not. In mid-February, the NRC said it
will begin the mandatory hearings after its
2014
2015
2016
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POWER April 2011

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