Dominion pitches reactor to NRC

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Dominion power to meet with Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on its pending application for a combined operating license

Date published: 11/27/2007

By RUSTY DENNEN

Dominion power and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet Thursday to go over the combined operating license application process for a third reactor at North Anna Power Station.

The public meeting at the NRC's offices in suburban Maryland, allows Dominion to familiarize the agency with the format and contents of its application, which is expected to be filed by Friday.

The application is the final step in a two-part process that could lead to a new generation reactor at the Louisa County plant on Lake Anna.

The license would allow for the construction and operation of the unit. It would include safety and environmental considerations and proposed public hearings.

Last week the NRC approved Dominion's application for an early site permit. That first step took four years to wind through the regulatory process. It allows utilities to resolve initial site, safety and environmental issues prior to construction. That permit is good for 20 years.

Dominion is one of three utilities around the nation to get early site permit approval; other applications are pending.

The NRC expects to make a decision on Dominion's combined license application sometime in 2011. If Dominion gets approval and decides to go ahead with the project, a new reactor could be operating as early as 2015.

Dominion has not yet said whether it intends to build Unit 3 at North Anna. Company officials contend they want to have that option, should it be needed to keep up with growing electricity demand. It would allow the company to lessen dependency on fossil fuels to generate power.

Opponents of the reactor plan say it will harm the environment, present another target for terrorists, and that Dominion should be pursuing alternative energy sources.

North Anna Power Station sits on Lake Anna. The 13,000-acre lake, which borders Louisa, Spotsylvania and Orange counties, was built to cool the plant's reactors.

The meeting on the combined operating license application will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the commissioners' hearing room at NRC's One White Flint North office, 11555 Rockville, Md.

For more information, contact the NRC's Thomas Kevern, 301/415-0224.

Date published: 11/27/2007