NEW YORK - A consortium of nuclear power companies presented a proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy this week to share the estimated $800 million cost of developing a new reactor.
None of the companies have committed to build a new nuclear plant. That decision will depend on the cost of a new reactor compared with the price of competing technologies and the future regulatory environment, the consortium, NuStart Energy Development LLC, said.
The companies did agree to complete the engineering design work and prepare construction and operating license applications for two reactor designs by General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and British Nuclear Fuels' Westinghouse.
The consortium said it will choose one of the applications to file with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review and approval.
After NRC approval, any member of the consortium could use the license to build a new nuclear plant.
Of the nine companies participating in the consortium, six have pledged $1 million a year plus the labor of their work forces for seven years, totaling about $42 million.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal power agency, will not provide any money, but its employees will work with the consortium on the application process.
GE AND WESTINGHOUSE
GE and Westinghouse, the reactor vendors, would pay the largest share of the costs, about $200 million each over seven years, since much of the work concerns the engineering designs.
If approved, that amount would be matched 50-50 by DOE research and development funds, averaging $57 million a year for seven years.
In an effort to get a nuclear plant under construction by 2010, the DOE has offered to share up to 50 percent of the cost of preparing an application for a construction and operating license to the NRC.
The last power reactor to enter service in the United States was TVA's Watts Bar in Tennessee in 1996.
The consortium members include units of Constellation Energy (CEG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , French utility Electricite de France [EDF.UL], Entergy Corp. (ETR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Exelon Corp. (EXC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Southern Co. (SO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , TVA, Duke Energy Corp. (DUK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , GE and Westinghouse.
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