EXELON WILL "DELAY OR CANCEL" PLANS TO BUILD TWO REACTORS IN TEXAS
EXELON WILL "DELAY OR CANCEL" PLANS TO BUILD TWO REACTORS IN TEXAS because that project was not among finalists selected by DOE for the first round of loan guarantees, Exelon Chairman/CEO John Rowe said after his speech at the National Press Club in Washington May 15. Exelon has applied to the NRC for a combined construction permit-operating license to build two reactors using GE Hitachi's ABWR design at a greenfield site in Victoria County, Texas. Rowe has consistently said that, given the high capital cost of the project, DOE loan guarantees will be "imperative" for Exelon to move ahead. Industry sources said this week that the final four companies in the running for loan guarantees are:
Southern Nuclear Operating Co. for two AP1000s at the Vogtle nuclear power plant site in Georgia, South Carolina Electric & Gas for two AP1000s at the Summer site in South Carolina, NRG Energy for two ABWRs at the South Texas Project site in Texas, and Constellation for one US-Evolutionary Power Reactor, or US-EPR, at the Calvert Cliffs site in Maryland. Rowe said he is not optimistic20 about getting nuclear power included in renewable energy portfolio standards now being considered by Congress, though whether power uprates at existing power reactors can be included is "still being argued." Getting sustained support for new nuclear power in Congress "will remain a very difficult challenge until large majorities of both parties conclude that it's needed," he said.
However, "more
and more people will come to realize" that any low-carbon generation strategy that is "competitive and effective" must "include a large component of nuclear energy," Rowe said.
Southern Nuclear Operating Co. for two AP1000s at the Vogtle nuclear power plant site in Georgia, South Carolina Electric & Gas for two AP1000s at the Summer site in South Carolina, NRG Energy for two ABWRs at the South Texas Project site in Texas, and Constellation for one US-Evolutionary Power Reactor, or US-EPR, at the Calvert Cliffs site in Maryland. Rowe said he is not optimistic20 about getting nuclear power included in renewable energy portfolio standards now being considered by Congress, though whether power uprates at existing power reactors can be included is "still being argued." Getting sustained support for new nuclear power in Congress "will remain a very difficult challenge until large majorities of both parties conclude that it's needed," he said.
However, "more
and more people will come to realize" that any low-carbon generation strategy that is "competitive and effective" must "include a large component of nuclear energy," Rowe said.