TVA may revive Bellefonte
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received the second complete application to build a new nuclear plant in as many months. On October 30, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the NuStart consortium of nuclear utilities and reactor vendors applied for a combined construction and operating license (COL) for two advanced pressurized water reactors (PWRs) at TVA’s 1,600-acre Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site in Jackson County, Ala. (Figure 1).
In September, NRG Energy Inc. became the first U.S. energy company in 29 years—since before the Three Mile Island accident—to fully apply for a license for a new nuclear plant (see POWER, November 2007, Global Monitor). NRG and the operator of two PWRs at South Texas Project would like to build two next-generation 1,350-MW boiling water reactors (BWRs) designed by General Electric adjacent to the existing units, to more than double the site’s generating capacity.
Bellefonte should be a familiar name to industry graybeards. In December 1974, the NRC issued TVA permits to build two PWRs there. Fourteen years later, with Unit 1 90% complete and Unit 2 a little more than half-done, TVA’s board of directors deferred further construction in response to lower-than-expected load growth. The project remained in limbo until November 2005, when TVA officially notified the NRC that it was cancelled. The construction permits then were withdrawn.
Ducks in a row. TVA’s COL application for Bellefonte specifies the use of two AP1000 “advanced passive” reactors from Westinghouse Electric Co., which was bought by Toshiba Corp. in 2006. This July, Westinghouse signed contracts with the Chinese government to build four plants based on the AP1000 by 2015. Since one of the deals calls for transferring details of the reactor’s technology (Figure 2) to a government agency, the AP1000 will likely be a linchpin of China’s nuclear power future.
Although TVA has not yet committed to build the new reactors, industry observers cite several reasons for believing that Bellefonte 2.0 has a good chance of coming to fruition. For one, the federal utility does not face the financial pressures that make investor-owned utilities risk-averse. What’s more, the Bellefonte site still has intact and useful infrastructure built for the aborted project, including plenty of transmission lines. And TVA has the support of NuStart, which has been working with it on the Bellefonte COL submittal for the past two years.
“Participating with NuStart in this application is a cost-effective way to preserve TVA’s nuclear power option for the future as we continue to explore and develop the best alternatives to meet growing demand for electricity in the Tennessee Valley,” said Bill McCollum, TVA’s chief operating officer. “Like other utilities, we face long lead times to build and start new plants needed to meet around-the-clock baseload power demand.”
Timing is everything. NuStart chose Bellefonte in September 2005 as one of two sites for which it said it would develop and submit COL applications. The other is Entergy Nuclear’s Grand Gulf plant in Mississippi; if the NRC approves a future application, the site would add an advanced BWR of the same type that NRG envisions building at South Texas.
If the NRC approves the Bellefonte application, its COL license would be issued to TVA. But NuStart’s members also would benefit by being able to “reference” TVA’s Bellefonte application for any AP1000 reactor designs they might submit. Indeed, four of the consortium’s utilities have announced plans to submit COL applications for AP1000 projects to the NRC by the end of 2008 that will make that reference.
Support by NuStart (which is itself backed by a U.S. Department of Energy subsidy) made the decision to apply for the Bellefonte COL a no-brainer for TVA. While the utility is addressing the last nagging problems at Browns Ferry Unit 1 (see POWER, November 2007, Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant for an inside look at the Alabama reactor’s restart this May), it is preparing to spend an estimated $2.5 billion over the next five years to complete the unfinished Unit 2 at its Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Tennessee. If all goes according to plan, the Watts Bar 2 project will be wrapping up when the NRC issues a COL for Bellefonte, freeing up funds for a construction project that could cost $10 billion or more.
The NRC says it expects to receive up to 21 applications for as many as 30 new reactors over the next few years. The proposed new units have enjoyed tremendous support from the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress, which included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 loan guarantees and cost-overrun support of up to $2 billion, spread over as many as six plants, as well as a production tax credit of 1.8 cents/kWh for six years, totaling as much as $125 million annually.
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