February 15, 2008

Global Monitor (February 2008)

Duke applies for first greenfield COL

Duke Energy has submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) an application for a combined construction and operating license (COL) for a new nuclear plant in Cherokee County, S.C. The proposed two-unit William States Lee III Nuclear Station would get its generating capacity of 2,234 MW from Westinghouse AP1000 pressurized water reactors.

Duke’s application would reference Tennessee Valley Authority’s October application to build and operate two units of the same design at its unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site in Alabama (POWER, December 2007, p. 6), theoretically accelerating the approval process (Figure 2). The project is expected to be completed by 2017.

2. Nuclear timeline. Duke Energy has submitted a COL application to the NRC for the William States Lee III Nuclear Station, which would be the first new greenfield project of its kind in the U.S. in decades. The project schedule calls for commercial operation to begin in 2017. Source: Duke Energy

“Submitting this COL application to the NRC is an important step for our customers and company,” said Brew Barron, Duke Energy’s chief nuclear officer. “[It] allows us to move forward in keeping the new nuclear generation option available [to help meet] the growing energy needs of the Carolinas.” Duke Energy Carolinas expects its capacity needs to increase by 10,700 MW by 2027.

Duke Energy is the fourth company to submit an application to the NRC under the revised COL licensing process, but its filing is the first for a greenfield site.

In addition to submitting the COL, Duke Energy is pursuing expanded demand-side management and energy-efficiency programs, an 800-MW coal unit at Cliffside Steam Station in North Carolina, and licensing and permitting of new combined-cycle peaking units at the Buck and Dan River steam stations in North Carolina. It’s also evaluating options for building and acquiring renewable-fueled and other near- and long-term generating resources to meet its customers’ needs well into the future.

PPL to work with UniStar on another COL

PPL Corp.’s Nuclear Development LLC subsidiary will partner with UniStar Nuclear Energy to develop a COL application for a new nuclear reactor on a site adjacent to the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant (Figure 3) near Berwick, Pa.

3. Expanded nuclear family? By the end of this year, PPL Corp. and UniStar Nuclear expect to develop and submit to the NRC an application to build and operate a reactor based on Areva technology on a site adjacent to the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. Courtesy: PPL Corp.

Susquehanna is a two-unit, 2,360-MW plant that is operated by PPL Susquehanna and jointly owned by it and Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc. A PPL spokesman said the company has already begun boring and testing at the site, and that it is the “most likely” location for a new reactor, although alternatives have been identified. Though PPL says it has not yet decided to move forward with construction, it plans to apply for a COL for the Berwick site in the fourth quarter of 2008, in time for the plant to qualify for production tax credits under the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The yet-unnamed reactor would use evolutionary pressurized water reactor (EPR) technology developed by the French firm Areva. The announcement adds momentum to UniStar’s plan to build a fleet of at least four EPRs, each rated at 1,600 MW, in the U.S. by 2015. In November, the company—a joint venture of Constellation Energy and Electricité de France, France’s state-owned electric utility—announced it had chosen Alstom to supply the reactors’ turbine generators.

As it develops the COL application for Berwick with UniStar, PPL is actively seeking partners to build the plant. “[We] would not undertake nuclear construction alone,” said William Spence, PPL Corp.’s chief operating officer. “Because of the large capital commitment required, we would [do so] only as part of some type of joint venture arrangement.” Spence added that PPL is now “in talks” with Areva about the possibility of such an arrangement.