Solamon Energy Source

NRC poise to license new nuclear reactors

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the US plans to approve licenses this Thursday for the building of 2 nuclear reactors — the first in more than 3 decades.

The reactors are currently being constructed in Georgia by a group of utility companies led by Southern Company. They will be housed in the Vogtle nuclear powerplant complex, 170 miles east of Atlanta.

The consortium of utilities teaming up to build the new reactors in Vogtle submitted their application in 2005 and preparatory work has been underway for a time. However, the actual reactors cannot be constructed until NRC issues the license.

The said new nuclear reactors, AP 1000, are designed by Westinghouse. Southern said that the combined cost will be USD 14 billion for generating 2,200 MW of electricity — enough to power a million households.According to Southern Co., one of the reactors is set to come online in 2016 while the second one is to follow on 2017.

The Ap 1000 is the most recent nuclear reactor that was approved by the NRC. According to Westinghouse, this would be the first of its kind in the US, but in China, there are already 4 under construction.Critics of the move have noted that containment walls of the AP1000 are not strong to weather a terrorist attack but Westinghouse countered that the walls were redone after the 9/11 attack and have proved strong enough during several simulations.However, some of the regional environmental groups are still saying that the present design is not that safe. They are pleading with the NRC to postpone their Thursday decision until such time that they can file a challenge in court.

Southern is attempting to obtain permission to create two 1,100 MW reactors at Plant Vogtle, in addition to the 2 that are already generating electricity there since the 80 s.′More strict regulation, increased construction expenses and high rates of interest are factors that made it difficult for the industry to keep operating during that time.Since 1978, nuclear regulators have not yet permitted the creation of a new reactor due to the partial meltdown in Pennsylvania.In the previous 5 years, around 30 reactors were proposed to be built but more than half of them have been pulled back due to several factors including lower energy demand, lack of funding and an apprehension for adding safety regulations. Besides, there are still no long-term plan on how to handle nuclear waste.