Domenici Celebrates New Milestone In Quest for a Nuclear Renaissance
Second Application for a Power Plant Received by NRC
October 30, 2007
03:39 PM
WASHINGTON – Just one month after heralding the first application to build a nuclear power plant in nearly 30 years, U.S. Senator Pete Domenici today celebrated news that a second application has been received, marking a further progress in the quest for a nuclear renaissance.
Domenici, who served as ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and is considered to be the Senate’s leading expert and proponent of nuclear energy, appeared at a news conference to celebrate the submission of an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by NuStart Energy/Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build two new reactors in Hollywood, Alabama.
The submission is particularly notable because the project will serve as the reference application for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor, a next generation technology. The reference application process was encouraged and supported under the Department of Energy’s NP2010 initiative.
“Less than a month ago, we had the first application submitted to the NRC in nearly 30 years. I said at the time that I hoped it would be the first of many exciting days ahead for nuclear energy. Today is another one of those days—but even I didn’t expect it to come quite so soon,” Domenici said.
“Ten years ago, in a speech at Harvard University, I laid out a new vision for nuclear power in this country. I stated that without tapping the full potential of nuclear power, we were shortchanging our people. Today, with our focus on global climate change, I believe that even more strongly. Policymakers who seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions must not oppose nuclear energy—or even stay neutral. They must embrace it,” he continued.
The application submitted by NuStart and TVA will seek to build two reactors at the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. While two reactors were partially constructed at the site in the 1980s, the project was abandoned in 1988.
“The Bellefonte site is itself a good indicator of how far we have come. Although it is hard to believe, a reactor there was 90 percent completed but never actually opened. Now, twenty years later, we are once again discussing a nuclear power plant—using new technology—at Bellefonte,” Domenici said.
Most analysts have credited the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was sheparded through Congress by Domenici, for spurring the current round of applications.
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