August 21, 2006—A recent newsletter from the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) reported on several utilities that plan to build nuclear power plants.
NRG Energy plans to build two new nuclear plants at the site of its South Texas Project nuclear facility, which is located on the Gulf Coast near Wadsworth, Texas, about 90 miles southwest of Houston. The two plants will reportedly have a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts and will use Advanced Boiling Water Reactor technology developed by General Electric Corporation. Construction of the two plants is expected to cost $5.2 billion and is expected within the next ten years.
A number of utilities are considering nuclear plants in other states, as well:
- The Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) intends to submit a license application in 2009 for a new nuclear power plant in Florida. The utility has not picked a site or technology and does not expect to decide whether or not to build the plant for several years.
- Duke Energy has selected a site in Cherokee County, South Carolina, as the potential site for a new nuclear plant. The utility is also considering two other sites located in North and South Carolina.
- Santee Cooper and the South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) selected the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, South Carolina, as a potential site for a new nuclear plant.
- Plans are also underway to submit licenses for two other potential new nuclear plants in North Carolina and Georgia.
While no utilities are building a new nuclear plant yet, EERE notes that one utility has been rebuilding an old one. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been upgrading its Browns Ferry Unit 1 nuclear plant, which was shutdown in 1985. The utility received a new operating license for the Alabama plant in May and plans to restart the reactor in May 2007.
