Posted on 09/23/2005 11:03:52 PM PDT by Crackingham
A consortium of eight companies said on Thursday that it would spend about $100 million to prepare applications to build two nuclear reactors, in Mississippi and Alabama, a step that seems to move the industry closer to its first new reactor order since the 1970's. The announcement was made by NuStart Energy, a consortium of companies that has substantial government financing. The consortium selected a site in Claiborne County, Miss., adjacent to Entergy Nuclear's Grand Gulf reactor, and another in northern Alabama, next to the Tennessee Valley Authority's long-abandoned Bellefonte nuclear construction project.
The Energy Department is committed to sharing costs to develop the two applications, and has agreed to pay the application fee, about $30 million, for one of them; the consortium is asking the department for money for the other. At the same time, Entergy announced that it would act on its own to develop an application for a reactor at a site next to its Waterford plant, in Louisiana.
The government, the reactor manufacturers and companies that own and operate existing reactors are testing a reformed licensing procedure, established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the 1990's to avoid the pitfalls of the 1970's and 80's, when several reactors were ordered and construction begun before design was completed or regulatory approval obtained.
Under the program, designs for the Grand Gulf reactor, to be made by General Electric, and the Bellefonte reactor, to be made by Westinghouse, will be mostly completed and also approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before substantial work is done at the sites.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
35 damn years too late!
You should start a pool on guessing how soob before the first environmentalist group files a lawsuit..
What does it say that you have to spend $100 million to "prepare applications" ?
Yes, I think good things are going to happen with Grand Gulf.
From toasters to nuclear reactors.
You've come a long way baby!
Westinghouse has actually been in the reactor business for close to 50 years.
Both GE (Boiling Water Reactors) and Westinghouse (Pressurized Water Reactors) have been in the business; they were part of the big four which also included Combustion Engineering and Babcock & Wilcox.
I thought Westinghouse had closed all it US manufacturing operations, bought into broadcasting and otherwise was just making money by whoring its name to Chinese light bulb makers.
...3...2...1...
Let's hope they're hurricane-proof!
That there may be a few lawyers involved?
A nuke plant in the path of Rita never even shut down. Just kept running out power through the storm.
They never got completely out of the business, at least they were still in it back in 95/96 with the last spent fuel project I was involved in. I've been out of the industry since 99, but as far as I know they never completely folded up shop.
BTTT
They likely have no American manufacturing plants or engineers, for that matter...But we can still get the Westinghouse name...
Sounds good to me.
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