TVA board approves pursuing COL

By Ken Bonner
The Daily Sentinel

Published September 28, 2007

It's not a done deal yet but TVA's (Tennessee Valley Authority) board of directors cleared the way Thursday for nuclear power to one day be produced at the utility's Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Hollywood.

The nine-member board voted unanimously to allow its CEO to proceed with seeking a Combined Operating License for two proposed Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at Bellefonte. The application, which TVA is completing as part of NuStart Energy, LLC, will be presented to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometime in October, according to earlier reports. The reactor has been given design approval by the NRC.

"We've been supportive of TVA and nuclear power at Bellefonte for over 30 years. We appreciate the progress TVA and NuStart is taking to make it happen." Jackson County Economic Development Authority CEO and President Dus Rogers said. "We look forward to seeing this project to a conclusion and power being produced."

"This is not a decision to authorize construction," TVA board member and chairman of the Operations, Environment and Safety Committee Howard Thrailkill said. "TVA would have the option to develop the plant if the application is approved."

NuStart is a consortium of utility companies and reactor manufacturers. The organization was formed to help speed up the licensing process and standardize designs for future nuclear plants. The application will be TVA's first in more than 30 years.

The AP1000 reactor is one of two reactor designs being pursued by NuStart. The other is a GE product. Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station in Mississippi is being used to complete the licensing process on the GE reactor.

"We appreciate the role TVA is preparing to take on as our NuStart consortium nears completion of an application for a combined construction and operating license for a Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design at TVA's Bellefonte site," Marilyn Kray, President of NuStart said. "NuStart's commitment is to continue providing the resources necessary to support quick and accurate responses as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducts its technical and environmental reviews and to ensure the application successfully earns approval."

NuStart helps utilities manage the uncertainties within the licensing process, and minimize uncertainties associated with engineering, the COL application process and project development by incorporating expertise from a cross section of the nuclear power generation industry.

"We (Operations, Environment and Safety Committee) are formally recommending that the board approve (this proposal)," Thrailkill, a Huntsville resident and the only Alabamian on the board, said.

The licensing project will take approximately 44 months to complete as the NRC studies the design, environmental concerns and conducts public hearings on the matter. The agency is expected to make a decision on the application in 2011.

"I applaud TVA's decision to move forward with their application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a Combined Operating License (COL) for the Bellefonte site in Jackson County," U.S. Congressman Bud Cramer (D-Huntsville) said. "If approved, Bellefonte would be one of the first new nuclear facilities constructed in the U.S. in over thirty years, and one of the first sites to use the next generation of nuclear technology."

TVA is under no obligation to build a plant at Bellefonte if the license is approved. The utility's other options are to build the facility on its own or with a partner or to sell the license to another utility.

"We stand ready to help in any way we can to make this project a reality," Rogers said in comments to the board.

Demand for power in the eight state TVA region is growing by 1.9 percent per year, noted Bill Sansom, chairman. "Ya'll (North Alabama) are outgrowing our projections."

Each reactor, if built, would provide 1,117 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power approximately 660,000 homes, according to Jack Bailey, Vice President, Nuclear Generation Development with TVA.

Each reactor would take approximately three years and cost between $2.5 and $3.5 billion to build with a workforce of as many as 2,000 construction workers anticipated. Approximately 400 workers would be needed to operate and maintain the facility upon completion.