reactor licensing

  • The Vogtle Electric Generating Plant is one of Georgia Power's two nuclear facilities and is one of three nuclear facilities in the Southern Company system. Plant Vogtle is co-owned between Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities. Unit 1 began commercial operation in 1987 and Unit 2 in 1989. The company recently achieved commercial operation on Vogtle Units 3&4, historically making Plant Vogtle the largest generator of clean energy in the U.S. Unit 3 entered commercial operation on July 31, 2023, and Unit 4 entered commercial operation on April 29, 2024. Courtesy: Southern Nuclear
    Nuclear

    Westinghouse Files to Update AP1000 Design Certification, Make Vogtle Expansion the U.S. Reference Plant

    Westinghouse has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to renew and update the design certification for its AP1000 reactor, formally proposing Vogtle Unit 4’s as‑built configuration as the new standard reference plant for future AP1000 projects in the U.S. If accepted and docketed, the submittal—Revision 20 of the AP1000 Design Control Document (DCD)—would establish “a […]

  • The DOE’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) has since 2021 set out to refurbish EBR II (which operated from 1964 – 1994) as a new test bed for higher thermal power reactor projects. The Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed is a demonstration platform that is flexible enough to test four to five advanced reactors. Testing could begin in 2026. Source: DOE
    Nuclear

    Westinghouse, Radiant Selected for First Fueled Nuclear Microreactor Tests at INL’s DOME Facility

    Nuclear microreactors developed separately by Westinghouse and Radiant are poised to become the first fueled designs tested at the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) facility—the world’s first dedicated microreactor test bed slated to open at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in early 2026. The first fueled experiment is expected to begin as early as spring 2026. […]

  • BP_April2020_NuclearReactorAge_Web
    Nuclear

    THE BIG PICTURE (Infographic): U.S. Nuclear Lifetimes

    The U.S. has 96 licensed-to-operate nuclear power reactors and two reactors under construction. But the average age of the nation’s 96 licensed nuclear units is about 39 years old. That has been of some concern to the nuclear industry, which has provided roughly a fifth of the nation’s power since the 1990s. About 88 of […]