more reading The U.S. Department of Energys Office of Nuclear Energy
For the reasons identified above, power companies are submitting combined Construction and Operating License (COL) applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for new advanced nuclear power plant designs. Despite lingering financial and licensing concerns, reactor vendors and plant owners are proceeding to finalize design and licensing, and it is likely that construction will start on several new plants within the next few years. DEPLOYING ADVANCED NUCLEAR POWER The NP 2010 program focuses on reducing the technical, regulatory, and institutional barriers to deployment of new nuclear power plants. The technology focus of the NP 2010 program is on Generation III+ advanced, light-water reactor designs, which offer advancements in safety and economics over current nuclear plant designs and the nuclear plant designs certified by the NRC in the 1990s. Regulatory Issues and Licensing To enable deployment of the new Generation III+ nuclear power plants in the United States in the relatively near term, it is essential to complete first-of-a-kind Generation III+ reactor design activities and to demonstrate the untested NRC regulatory and licensing processes for the siting, construction, and operation of new nuclear plants. The Early Site Permit (ESP) process is a licensing process to approve sites for new nuclear plants prior to a power companys commitment to build. The combined COL, is a one-step licensing process by which the NRC approves and issues a license to build and operate a new nuclear power plant. Capacity projections are based on the premise that nuclear energy will continue to provide 19.4 percent of the Nations energy mix through 2030. FUTURE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL GENERATING CAPACITY The U.S. Department of Energys Offi ce of Nuclear Energy www.nuclear.energy.gov May 2009 Cooperative Projects In 2002, the Department initiated cooperative projects with industry to obtain the NRCs approval of three sites for construction of new nuclear power plants under the NRCs ESP process. In 2003, three ESP applications were submitted by power companies to the NRC for review. They were approved in FY 2007 and early FY 2008. One additional ESP application is currently under review with the NRC as of FY 2009; three more are expected in the FY 20102012 timeframe. In 2005, the Department, in cooperation with industry teams, initiated two new Nuclear Plant Licensing Demonstration Projects to demonstrate the COL licensing process and complete the certification of first-of-a-kind designs for Generation III+ reactor technologies. In early FY 2008, these industry consortia developed and submitted COL applications for two commercial nuclear plant sites for the Westinghouse Advanced Passive Pressurized Water Reactor (AP1000) and the General Electric (GE) Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) technologies. The two industry consortia involve power companies currently operating more than two-thirds of the existing U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. As of FY 2009, these demonstration projects are proceeding successfully toward their respective goals. Design Certifications for both reactor technologies are expected in the early to mid-2011 timeframe, with COL approvals in late 2011. Standby Support To mitigate some of the financial risk associated with new nuclear power plantsthus encouraging the construction of new nuclear plantsthe Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) allows the Secretary of Energy to pay certain costs to project sponsors if construction or full-power operation of an advanced nuclear facility is delayed. This standby support provision covers costs attributed to regulatory delays or litigation that delays full-power operations of the new nuclear plants. The Secretary is permitted to pay the delay costs for six reactors, up to a total of $2 billion.
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