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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity to participate in a hearing on a Combined License (COL) application for two new nuclear reactors at the Comanche Peak site near Glen Rose, Texas. Luminant Generation submitted the COL application and associated information Sept. 19, 2008, and updated the application in November and December 2008. Luminant seeks approval to build and operate two U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors (US-APWR) at the site, about four miles north of Glen Rose. The NRC is currently reviewing the US-APWR for possible certification. The Comanche Peak application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/comanche-peak.html.

For the second day, North Texas nuclear opponents are presenting arguments before a panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. They are challenging Luminant Generation's request for a license to expand the Comanche Peak nuclear plant, as KERA's Shelley Kofler reports. Luminant wants to add two larger reactors to the two already operating at Comanche Peak, southwest of Fort Worth. Nuclear opponents have raised concerns about public health, cost, and enormous water use. In a courtroom in Granbury, attorney Robert Eye told licensing judges that Luminant's application assumes the federal government will provide a permanent repository for radioactive waste. But Eye reminded that the US Energy Secretary has said the proposed Yucca Mountain site in Nevada is no longer an option. Eye claims storing additional radioactive waste at the plant is dangerous.

"Luminant, the power generator proposing a multibillion-dollar expansion of the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant, took issue Thursday with arguments that it failed to give sufficient consideration to renewable energy alternatives and catastrophic radiation leaks that might result from an event such as a terrorist attack. The issues were debated by lawyers for Luminant and plant opponents at a hearing held in Granbury by a three-judge panel of the federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. The hearing is part of Luminant's application for a license to expand Comanche Peak from two to four reactors. The plant is near Glen Rose, 45 miles southwest of Fort Worth."

Luminant Generation Company LLC; Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4 Combined License Application; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process Luminant Generation Company LLC (Luminant) has submitted an application for two combined licenses (COLs) to build Units 3 and 4 at its Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant (CPNPP) site, located on approximately 7,950 acres in Somervell and Hood Counties, Texas. CPNPP is located on Squaw Creek Reservoir, approximately 5.2 miles (mi) north of Glen Rose, Texas. Luminant submitted the application for the COL to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by letter dated September 19, 2008, pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 52. A notice of receipt and availability of the application for the COLs, including the Environmental Report (ER), was published in the Federal Register on November 7, 2008 (73 FR 66276).

Luminant Generation Company LLC; Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for a Combined License On September 19, 2008, Luminant Generation Company LLC filed with [[Page 66277]] The 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 two United States--Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors nuclear power plants at the Comanche Peak site located near Glen Rose, Texas. The reactors are to be identified as Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, Units 3 and 4.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made available to the public the combined license (COL) application for two new reactors at the Comanche Peak site near Glen Rose, Texas. The applicant, Luminant Generation, submitted the application and associated information Sept. 19. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/comanche-peak.html. The Luminant application seeks approval to build and operate two U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors (US-APWR) at the site, about four miles north of Glen Rose. The US-APWR is a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-designed 1,700 MWe pressurized-water reactor the NRC is currently reviewing for possible certification. More information regarding the review is available on the NRC's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/design-cert/apwr/dcd.html.

A fight over whether to build two generating units at the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant near Glen Rose will be centered in the Hood County seat of Granbury six days from now. A panel of the federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear oral arguments beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday on a request by opponents of the plant's expansion that they be granted intervener status. If they are successful, a public hearing would be held regarding their opposition to Luminant Generation's application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to operate the two units. The arguments will be heard in the jury selection room of the Hood County Justice Center, 1200 Pearl St. If necessary, the hearing will continue the next morning.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that it has accepted for review Luminant Generation's application to add two reactors at the company's Comanche Peak power plant in Glen Rose. Luminant, part of Dallas-based Energy Future Holdings, filed its application Sept. 19. The company said the NRC's action indicates that the application is complete and technically sufficient to allow the agency to conduct a comprehensive review.

For almost two decades, folks opposed to splitting atoms to turn on a light bulb have been comforted by nuclear power's fall from favor as an electric-generating fuel. In 1993, one of the last reactors to come on line in this country was Comanche Peak Unit 2, located about 45 miles southwest of Fort Worth in Somervell County. Its twin, Unit 1, went into operation in 1990. With no new reactor orders from utilities since then, commercial nukes seemed to be headed for extinction as surely as the dinosaurs that roamed the county millions of years ago. "Were we ever wrong," said Debbie Harper, with a wry laugh.

AUSTIN - Dallas-based Luminant said Friday it is applying to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two new reactors at its Comanche Peak nuclear power plant near Glen Rose. It's an early step in a multiyear permitting process. It would take nine to 10 years until the reactors are up and running if they are approved, counting permitting and construction time, said David Campbell, chief executive officer for Luminant.

Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Co's two-reactor expansion planned in Texas has dropped to "first alternate" in the heated competition for $18.5 billion in government-backed loans that developers say will be critical to advancing the first round of nuclear plant construction in three decades, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. A Department of Energy official confirmed that the agency has cut to four the number of new nuclear projects being considered for the first round of federal loan guarantees.

"Today, the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee included a $25 billion preemptive bailout of the nuclear industry, in the form of loan guarantees for new reactors, in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill. Members of the subcommittee delayed markup of the appropriations bill until the bailout was included in the legislation, with Democratic Congressman Chet Edwards being particularly vocal. Since May, Congressman Edwards has been using nuclear bailouts as an election issue against his opponent in Texas's 17th District, attacking him for suggesting that federal money should not be used to construct nuclear reactors. Edwards wants a preemptive bailout for an expansion of the Comanche Peak reactor in his district. With Edwards in a tightly contested race, it appears that House leadership has caved to his demands and Edwards is declaring a victory. "

A nuclear energy renaissance is in full swing in the Lone Star State. Luminant Generation recently filed a federal permit to build two new reactors at its Comanche Peak nuclear plant in Somervell County. That makes six new nuclear reactors pending statewide, which would more than double the state's production of electricity from virtually carbon-free nuclear power.

GLEN ROSE - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a public meeting late Thursday to answer questions on the process for Energy Future Holdings to file for a license to build two more reactors. Although Energy Future's Luminant power generation unit will spend between $50 million and $150 million to prepare the application, the company hasn't decided whether to spend billions of dollars to build the reactors at the existing Comanche Peak plant.

Energy Future Holdings generation business, called Luminant, informed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday it plans to file an application on September 19 for a license to build and operate two new reactors. Luminant is considering building the reactors at its Comanche Peak nuclear plant in Glen Rose.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued annual assessment letters to the nation's 104 operating commercial nuclear power plants. All the plants continue to operate safely. "Our ongoing assessment of nuclear power plant performance is at the heart of the agency's mission of protecting people and the environment," said Eric Leeds, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. "The 2008 year-end results show that about 83 percent of the plants are performing strongly enough that we're satisfied with our basic level of inspections at those sites." If a nuclear power plant's performance declines, the NRC increases the level of inspection to ensure the plant operator is taking the steps necessary to correct the situation. The additional amount of inspection is commensurate with the level of plant performance. At the close of last year, only one reactor, Unit 3 at Palo Verde (Ariz.), required the NRC's highest level of attention. Three reactor units, Cooper (Neb.) and Units 1 and 2 at Palo Verde (Ariz.), required significant NRC attention. And another 14 reactor units, Units 1 and 2 at Byron (Ill.), Unit 1 at Comanche Peak (Texas), Unit 1 at Farley (Ala.), Unit 1 at Grand Gulf ( Miss.), Unit 2 at Hatch (Ga.), Kewaunee (Wis.), Units 1 and 2 at McGuire (N.C.), Unit 2 at Nine Mile Point (N.Y.), Unit 1 at Oconee (S.C.), Palisades (Mich.), Unit 1 at Prairie Island (Minn.), and Unit 2 at San Onofre (Calif.), required additional attention beyond the basic level.

Nuclear, coal, natural gas - they're all just different ways of heating water. But oh, those differences. As Luminant and anti-nuclear activists duke it out during the next few years over Luminant's proposed expansion of its Comanche Peak nuclear plant, the jargon of nuclear power isn't likely to penetrate the public consciousness without help. In the interest of general enlightenment, here's the first of an occasional series we might call Nuclear Power 101. Today's topic: Catching up with nuclear reactor designs.

Luminant Generation Company, LLC; Establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Pursuant to delegation by the Commission dated December 29, 1972, published in the Federal Register, 37 FR 28,710 (1972), and the Commission's regulations, see 10 CFR 2.104, 2.300, 2.303, 2.309, 2.311, 2.318, and 2.321, notice is hereby given that an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board) is being established to preside over the following proceeding:

"Constellation Energy's new partner, EDF of France, briefed lawmakers on Wednesday on its plan to build a nuclear power plant in Maryland. The briefing was billed as a meet-and-greet for lawmakers to meet those who hold the future of Maryland's nuclear energy industry in their hands. Members of the group are from France and the UK. The state Public Service Commission approved the deal allowing EDF to partner with Constellation. EDF executives went to Annapolis to introduce themselves and brief legislators on their nuclear ambitions -- specifically, building a new nuclear power plant at the Calvert Cliffs site."