DOE to award $13-million to two nuclear consortia

DOE to award $13-million to two nuclear consortia

Washington (Platts)--4Nov2004


DOE said it would provide $13-million for two consortia--NuStart Energy
Development LLC and another industry team led by Dominion--seeking federal
assistance to test NRC's licensing process for new nuclear power plants. The
Dominion team would receive $9-million, and NuStart would receive $4-million,
said DOE spokeswoman Hope Williams. The money is being taken from fiscal 2004
funds for the Nuclear Power 2010 program, which aims to have at least one
advanced reactor under construction by 2010. Money from the FY-05 program
budget could be added to the award total. The initial awards are for the teams
to determine the precise work scope, milestones, and costs associated with
demonstrating the NRC's combined construction-operating license process,
Williams said. Neither industry team has committed to building a new reactor.
Cooperative agreements for each of the projects are expected to be in place by
December, and a detailed project planning phase will be completed in FY-05,
DOE said. The Dominion team includes Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL)
subsidiary AECL Technologies Inc., Bechtel, and Hitachi. The team has selected
AECL's advanced Candu reactor technology, the ACR-700. The other consortium,
NuStart, includes nine electric companies and two vendors, and is exploring
GE's ESBWR and Westinghouse's AP1000. NuStart includes Constellation, Duke
Energy, Florida Power & Light, EDF-International North America, Entergy
Nuclear, Exelon, Progress Energy, Southern Co., and the Tennessee Valley
Authority.

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