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 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.
"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).
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.
This is NRC's official timeline chart for reactor licensing by design:
AP1000 (Bellafonte, Lee Summer, Harris, Vogtle, Levy Cnty, Turkey Pt)
ESBWR (N Anna, Grand Gulf, River Bend, Victoria Cnty, Fermi)
EPR(Calvert Cliffs, Callaway, Amarillo Power, Bruneau, Nine Mile Pt)
ABWR (South Texas)
USAPWR (Commanche Peak)
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.
If the turnout for Tuesday's public meeting on expansion of the nuclear plant is any sign, protesters might not pose much of a threat to Energy Future Holdings' plans to build two new reactors.
Some representatives of state environmental groups and a few local people expressed concern about the safety of the new reactor design, the impact on the local water supply and storing nuclear waste onsite.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will delay license review for a new nuclear reactor at the existing Nine Mile Point nuclear power station in New York at the request of UniStar Nuclear Energy LLC, the NRC said on Friday.
UniStar is a joint venture of Maryland-based Constellation Energy Group (CEG.N) and EDF Group (EDF.PA) of France formed to pursue building new U.S. reactors.
UniStar said it wants the NRC to hold off on the Nine Mile license to focus attention on UniStar's planned reactor at the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland. Earlier, UniStar dropped Nine Mile out of the competition for federal loan guarantees for nuclear power, also to concentrate on the Calvert Cliffs proposal.