Expanding Nuclear Energy

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Companies might be concerned about financing and the scheduling capacity of engineering and construction firms, but nuclear is moving ahead briskly.

Written by Bruce Cannon

New nuclear plants offer clean and reliable baseload energy that will be critical to achieving carbon reduction, meeting future electricity needs, and balancing greater use of intermittent renewable resources. The Thursday Critical Issue Forum at 10:30 am explored the status of proposed plants and the challenges.

Moderator Jack Keenan, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Pacific Gas & Electric, opened the session by saying that he was excited about the expansion of nuclear power. "I think it's going to happen," he said. "Climate change in the biggest driver."

"We have started, and we don't plan to stop," said Jim Miller, CEO of Southern Nuclear Operating Company. Southern Nuclear will be adding two reactors to the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, located near Waynesboro in eastern Georgia. The plant is jointly owned by Georgia Power (45.7 percent), Oglethorpe Power Corporation (30.0 percent), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (22.7 percent), and the City of Dalton (1.6 percent). After looking at all of the available technologies, Southern Nuclear chose Westinghouse AP1000s for its reactors. "We have to have the best possible equipment," said Miller. The plant is expected to go commercial in April 2016.

"Nuclear is the only baseload technology that is carbon-free," said Lloyd Yates, president and CEO of Progress Energy Carolinas. "And we're good at operating nuclear plants." Progress Energy Carolinas plans to add two new units to its Harris Nuclear Plant in New Hill, NC, sometime after 2020. In the meantime, Progress Energy Florida has signed a contract with Westinghouse and The Shaw Group for the engineering, procurement, and construction of two 1,105-net megawatt AP1000 reactors for a proposed nuclear power plant in Levy County, FL. "We have sufficient capacity-either dry storage or wet storage-to store our nuclear waste," said Yates.

"Finances are a key issue," said Jean Pierre Benque, president of Electricité de France (EDF) Development. On May 19, UniStar (a strategic joint venture between Constellation Energy and EDF Group) announced that its Calvert Cliffs Unit 3 project in Maryland was selected by the Department of Energy as one of four projects to enter the final phase of due diligence for a portion of $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees for advanced nuclear projects. "To take the carbon challenge, nuclear is a part of the solution," Benque said. "We need partnerships and stable public policy. Otherwise, it is very risky."

"We expect the nuclear renaissance to take root," said Art Lembo, senior vice president of the power group for URS Washington Division. While acknowledging that the industry is in somewhat of a contraction, Lembo reassured the audience that engineering and construction companies are capable of ramping up quickly. "As the momentum builds for the new nuclear build-out, it can be well-supported by the industry," he said. In closing, Lembo addressed the perceived shortage of skilled construction labor: "You build it, they will come. While the skill level for nuclear construction is extremely high, the economic cycle will help us bring some new people into the trades."