Products & Services - Nuclear Plant Journal

Dawn of Nuclear Energy in the U.S.
The South Texas Project (STP), a
leader in the U.S. nuclear power industry
for more than a decade, is now at
the forefront of the nuclear industry’s
rebirth in America.
Growing demand for clean, no
carbon electricity in Texas led NRG
Energy, CPS Energy and the South Texas
Project Nuclear Operating Company
(STPNOC) to apply for a federal government
license to build and operate two
new reactors at the South Texas Project
site in Matagorda County on the Texas
Gulf Coast. The application, submitted
on September 24, 2007, marks the first
license request for a new nuclear plant
in the U.S. in nearly three decades.
STP 3 and 4 will generate approximately
2,700 megawatts or enough power
for more than 2.1 million homes.
NRG Energy’s letter of intent to
submit an application was filed with the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June
2006. STPNOC engineers successfully
led a combined GE-Hitachi Nuclear
Energy and Bechtel team in applications
development. In just a little over a year,
the 20,000 plus page Combined Operating
License Application for the two new
units was submitted to the NRC.
The STP 3 and 4 units will be
constructed utilizing Advanced Boiling
Water Reactor (ABWR) technology.
ABWR technology was chosen as it is
the only design that has been certified
by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
and is already in operation in the
world. The design reflects 50 years of
continued evolution of boiling water
reactor technology.
In 1996, the first ABWR plant began
commercial operation at Tokyo Electric
Power’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa site in
Japan. Since then, three additional plants
have been commissioned in Japan and
three more are currently being built in
Japan and Taiwan. ABWR plants have
an impressive record of being built ontime
and on-budget.
Kevin D. Richards
Kevin Richards is group vice
president for the South Texas Project
expansion and responsible for the
overall management and direction of
construction and operations of Units
3 and 4. Richards helped build STP
Units 1 and 2 as the construction
supervisor and has also been STP’s
general manager for alliances and
plant investment, maintenance
manager, outage manager, work
control manager, steam generator
replacement manager and manager
of work management.
Recruiting the best, most experienced
team to build these two new
nuclear reactors is crucial to the project
success. Based on their recent construction
experience of Advanced Boiling
Water Reactors, Toshiba and the Fluor
Corporation are supporting the design,
engineering, construction and procurement
of the units. The Tokyo Electric
Power Company, Inc. is also providing
their ABWR operations experience of
more than a decade to support the STP’s
planned two-unit expansion. Further
discussions are underway to bring onboard
additional ABWR-experienced
vendors.
Currently, the NRC is conducting an
estimated 60 day application completeness
review process. The NRC detailed
review process including staff discovery,
site visits, company responses, hearings
and NRC Environmental Impact
Statements, may take up to 42 months.
Approval of the federal government
license is expected and construction will
begin in 2010. Given this time frame,
STP unit 3 should come on line in 2014
and STP unit 4 in 2015.
STP is considered to be one of the
best sites in America for the nuclear
renaissance for several reasons. The site
was originally licensed for four reactors
and has the infrastructure needed for
plant expansion. Its 7,000-acre cooling
water reservoir –- at one time the largest
above-grade, manmade lake in the world
-- holds in excess of 200,000 acre-feet of
water, adequate for four units. The site
also has the road, rail and barge access
to bring in large plant components, and
is connected to transmission lines that
can carry new generation to millions of
homes and businesses across southern
and central Texas.
STP’s performance and prominence
also were pivotal factors in its
selection as the site for the first new
American nuclear plant construction.
STP led all 33 two-unit plants in the
U.S. in production from January 2004
through October 2007, when this article
was written. The plant’s nation-leading
production is not merely due to the size
of its twin, four-loop, Westinghouse
pressurized reactors, which together
deliver 2,700 megawatts to the grid.
(Continued on page 122)
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