In theory, the only thing that stands in the way of Georgia Power building the first new nuclear reactors in the United States in three decades is a marathon question-and-answer session with federal regulators.
Executives from Georgia Power’s sister company, Southern Nuclear, which will operate the units, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet Tuesday and Wednesday at the NRC’s headquarters in Rockville, Md., for a final review of the company’s planned nuclear expansion project at Plant Vogtle near Augusta.
Though these meetings are open to everyone, they are not forums for public comment. That stage has already passed.
These are the first mandatory hearings under the NRC’s new streamlined process to issue licenses to build and operate nuclear plants, and other companies are watching because Westinghouse Electric Co.’s new reactor, the AP1000, is designed to be used at other plants as well.
These hearings come two weeks after the Plant Vogtle expansion project was in the spotlight for safety reasons.
The NRC on Sept. 16 cited Southern Nuclear for a minor violation related to a waterproof liner because it did not meet the agency’s testing criteria, an NRC spokesman said. A Southern Nuclear spokesman said the company will perform more qualification tests on the liner in October.
Georgia Power is part of a group of utilities building two reactors at Vogtle. The first reactor is expected to produce power in 2016, the second in 2017. The project cost is estimated at $14 billion, and customers already are paying the financing costs of the Vogtle expansion project through a surcharge on monthly bills.
“We fully intend to move forward in a very responsible manner to make sure these are brought online on time and on budget,” said Steve Higginbottom, a spokesman for Southern Nuclear.
Georgia Power officials touted the AP1000 reactor’s simpler design and enhanced safety features when announcing the project in 2008.
The NRC still has to sign off on the reactor design, which it is expected to do by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s mandatory hearing will review, among other things, emergency planning, cybersecurity and how nuclear waste will be stored at the reactor site. The NRC will not issue a ruling until perhaps early next year; with that ruling comes the construction license for the units.
Nathan Ives, a senior manager with Ernst & Young, said his initial review of documents didn’t turn up any red flags. But Ives, a consultant in the energy and nuclear industry, said regulators likely will scrutinize heavily Southern Nuclear’s plans to handle disasters, including floods and earthquakes.
Severe weather incidents, such as the tornadoes that hit the Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama and the Surry Power Station in Virginia, prompted Congress to ask the Government Accountability Office to review how U.S. reactors are protected against forces of nature, including earthquakes and tornadoes.
South Carolina-based SCANA, which wants to expand its nuclear operations at its V.C. Summer nuclear station, has its mandatory hearing scheduled with the NRC for next month, said Scott Burnell, a spokesman with the NRC. Duke Energy and Progress Energy also have nuclear projects in the regulatory pipeline as well.
“The basic approach is once the agency finishes certifying a design, it can be used over and over again. It just has to be examined on a site-specific basis,” Burnell said.
The U.S. has 104 nuclear reactors, but no new ones have been built in 30 years. Construction cost overruns — including those for the first two reactors at Plant Vogtle — combined with the Three Mile Island disaster in 1979 stunted the industry’s growth in the United States. Vogtle’s first two reactors were built in the 1980s. The project exceeded its seven-year deadline by nine years and its $660 million budget by more than $8 billion.
Federal loan guarantees, a different regulatory process and a heavy push to wean the United States off fossil fuels and foreign oil have led to a resurgence in the nuclear industry.
The Obama administration has offered Atlanta-based Southern Co., Georgia Power’s parent, roughly $8 billion in loan guarantees. However, on Sept. 23, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., called for hearings to re-examine the federal loan guarantee program for nuclear plants in light of a U.S. House investigation into a $535 million loan guarantee for solar-panel maker Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy protection this month.
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