Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s (ODEC’s) announcement on Monday that it will withdraw participation in and ownership of a third-generation reactor planned for construction by Dominion Virginia Power at its North Anna Nuclear Power Station in Louisa County, Va., will not change its plans to build the potential project, Dominion said.
The nuclear expansion did “not fit with … long-term plans,” ODEC said in a statement on Monday. The 11-member cooperative has owned an 11.6% undivided interest in and share of the power generated by North Ann’s two existing units.
According to Dominion’s chair and CEO, Thomas Farrell II, considering a new unit at North Anna was necessary because "Virginia faces a substantial shortfall in electric power generation in the next 10 years, especially baseload capacity that is available 24 hours, seven days a week,” he said. “North Anna Unit 3, if built, can provide this electricity safely and reliably while producing virtually no greenhouse gases.”
Dominion has not decided on the schedule to build the unit, but the company is pushing on with the federal combined operating license process and preliminary site development work. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to make a decision on the company’s application in 2013.
Sources: POWERnews, Dominion, ODEC