Group items tagged

Progress Energy has submitted an application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a combined construction and operating licence (COL) for a potential new nuclear power plant in Levy County, Florida.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review a combined license (COL) application for two new reactors at the Vogtle site near Waynesboro, Ga. Southern Nuclear submitted the application and associated information March 31. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site here: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/col/vogtle.html.

SUMMARY: The NRC is issuing its Final Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) DC/ COL-ISG-05 (ADAMS Accession No. ML081710264). This interim staff guidance supplements the guidance provided to the staff in Chapter 11, ``Radioactive Waste Management,'' of NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants,'' concerning the review of radioactive releases in gaseous and liquid effluents (GALE) to support design certification (DC) and combined license (COL) applications. This guidance provides a clarification on the use of a newer version of the boiling-water reactor and pressurized-water reactors GALE codes that is not referenced in the current NRC guidance.

The NRC is soliciting public comment on its Proposed Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) DC/COL-ISG-013 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML090830488). The purpose of this ISG is to modify and provide Combined License (COL) and Design Certification (DC) applicants additional clarity and guidance for the application of Standard Review Plan (SRP) Sections 11.2 and 2.4.13 on the characterization of hydro geological properties of a site associated with the effects of accidental releases of radioactive liquid on existing or likely future uses of ground and surface water resources in meeting the requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 100 (10 CFR 100.10 or 100.20) and Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 20 on effluent concentration limits.

Loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants in the U.S. should not be awarded until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has fully reviewed plans for a proposed project and granted it a combined construction and operating license (COL), Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week. "Otherwise valuable taxpayer support would be set aside for a project that may not pass regulatory review," the chair of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee said in a letter (PDF) to Chu. The congressman's concerns were raised by the NRC's Oct. 16 notice to Westinghouse Electric Co. that it had not adequately demonstrated the structural strength of certain components of its AP1000 reactor design, specifically for the shield building. The shield building protects the reactor's primary containment from severe weather and other events, but it also provides a radiation barrier during normal operation and supports an emergency cooling water tank.

Loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants in the U.S. should not be awarded until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has fully reviewed plans for a proposed project and granted it a combined construction and operating license (COL), Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week. "Otherwise valuable taxpayer support would be set aside for a project that may not pass regulatory review," the chair of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee said in a letter (PDF) to Chu. The congressman's concerns were raised by the NRC's Oct. 16 notice to Westinghouse Electric Co. that it had not adequately demonstrated the structural strength of certain components of its AP1000 reactor design, specifically for the shield building. The shield building protects the reactor's primary containment from severe weather and other events, but it also provides a radiation barrier during normal operation and supports an emergency cooling water tank.

Union Electric Company d/b/a Amerenue; Acceptance for Docketing of an Application for Combined License for Callaway Plant Unit 2 Nuclear Power Plant By letter dated July 28, 2008, as supplemented by letters dated September 24, 2008, November 14, 2008, and November 25, 2008, Union Electric Company d/b/a AmerenUE (AmerenUE), submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a combined license (COL) for a single unit of the U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S. EPR) in accordance with the requirements contained in 10 CFR Part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' This reactor will be identified as Callaway Plant Unit 2 and is to be located at the current Callaway County, Missouri site of the Callaway Power Plant. A notice of receipt and availability of this application was previously published in the Federal Register (73 FR 59677) on October 9, 2008, as corrected in Federal Register (73 FR 61444 on October 16, 2008).

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review the Combined License application for an Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at the Nine Mile Point site near Oswego, N.Y. Unistar submitted the application and associated information Sept. 30. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/nine-mile-point.html. Unistar is seeking approval to build and operate an EPR at the site, approximately six miles northeast of Oswego. The EPR is an Areva-designed pressurized water reactor, with a nominal output of approximately 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Areva filed its application Dec. 11, 2007, to certify the design. A version of the EPR is currently under construction at the Olkiluoto site in Finland and at Flamanville, France. The EPR application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/design-cert/epr.html.

For applications that have been received by the NRC, you may select a site name to view the NRC's website for the specific COL application. Websites for the remainder of the applications will be created when they are received.

Nine Mile Point 3 Nuclear Project, LLC and Unistar Nuclear Operating Services, LLC (Unistar); Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for a Combined License On September 30, 2008, Nine Mile Point 3 Nuclear Project, LLC and UniStar Nuclear Operating Services, LLC (UniStar) filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) pursuant to Section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' an application for a combined license (COL) for an evolutionary power reactor (US EPR) nuclear power plant adjacent to the existing Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Unit 1 and Unit 2, Oswego County, New York. The reactor is to be identified as Nine Mile Point 3 Nuclear Power Plant (NMP3NPP).

Entergy on Thursday filed an application for a combined construction permit-operating license for a 1,520-MW GE-Hitachi nuclear unit at its River Bend site in Louisiana. The application marks the company's second COL request. Entergy in February submitted an application for an new reactor that would also be supplied by GE-Hitachi at its Grand Gulf site near Port Gibson, Mississippi.

Exelon plans on Wednesday to submit to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission an application for a combined construction permit-operating license for two units at a greenfield site in Victoria County, Texas. The Chicago-based company has selected GE-Hitachi's 1,520-MW reactor design and the units would be designated as Victoria County Station-1 and -2. At least three other COL applications are expected to be filed this month. NRC already has received 11 applications for possibly 18 new reactors.

As PPL Electric Utilities prepares plans to construct its third nuclear power plant near Berwick, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reaching out to the public to explain the permit application process and offer opportunities for public comment on the proposal. The NRC held the first of many public meetings Tuesday at the Kehr Union Ballroom on the campus of Bloomsburg University. Approximately 50 area residents attended. In the fourth quarter of 2008, PPL and UniStar Nuclear Energy plan to submit an application to the NRC for a COL, or combined license, to construct and operate an "AREVA U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor" near PPL's Susquehanna nuclear power plant at Berwick.

Airborne uranium levels will be measured by an Army contractor at three monitoring stations at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island over the next 12 months, Col. Howard Killian told the Public Works Committee of the Hawaii County Council yesterday. On the Net: » www.imcom.pac.army.mil/du The $150,000 testing is being done because the Army discovered in 2007 that uranium "spotting rounds" were used at Pohakuloa in the 1960s. Radiation monitoring from the Girl Scout camp near Pohakuloa to Konawaena High School nearly 30 miles to the southwest has not found any radiation above background level, Killian said.

A pair of Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers carried out a routine patrol flight on Thursday over the Arctic Ocean off Alaska, an Air Force spokesman said. Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik told RIA Novosti that the bombers had been "accompanied for one hour by two [U.S.] F-15 fighters over the Arctic Ocean near the shores of Alaska."

Web site gives info on plant design Looking for some new reading material? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced yesterday it has put DTE Energy's application for a Fermi 3 reactor online. That's, um, nearly 17,000 pages of engineering studies, minus proprietary or security-related details. While that may not fall under the layman's definition of light reading, the agency has been putting applications online as it receives them. This one can be accessed at www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/fermi.html.

The two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers that landed in Venezuela last week have successfully carried out a patrol mission along the South American coast, a Russian Air Force spokesman said on Tuesday. "The aircraft took off from the Libertador airbase in Venezuela on Monday and flew along the South American coast toward Brazil," Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said.

South Carolina Electric and Gas Company as Itself and Acting as Agent for the South Carolina Public Service Company (Also Referred to as Santee Cooper) Acceptance for Docketing of an Application for Combined License for Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3

When I spoke at the first Summit about a year and half ago the NRC was just preparing to issue its new procedures for reviewing Combined Operating License, or COL, applications for new nuclear power plants. And we were just beginning to anticipate how many such applications we might be receiving from industry.

HILO » Forty-year-old depleted uranium devices at the Army's Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island are a hazard on base, but not a hazard to the public, Army Col. Howard Killian told the Hawaii County Council yesterday. Measurements show no radiation from depleted uranium is extending outside the nearly 109,000-acre base, and radiation inside is so low that devices made with uranium are hard to find, Killian said.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct a public meeting in Victoria, Texas, on Thursday, Aug. 7, to discuss how the agency will review an expected Combined License (COL) application for two reactors at the Victoria County site, about 13 miles south of Victoria. The prospective applicant, Exelon, has told the NRC it intends to apply later this year for a license to build and operate two Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactors (ESBWR) at the site.