Name of Option:
New Nuclear Capacity
Description:
The "New Nuclear Capacity" option contains two separate areas of opportunity
for adding new plants, and one for recognizing units brought on-line since the
historic baseline period. First, in the near term, additional nuclear capacity
may be added by completion and operation of the six generating units under
construction by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The addition of all six
of these units would bring over 7,000 MW of generating capacity onto the grid,
resulting in avoided emissions of over 11 MMt of carbon annually if they are
substituted for fossil-fuel fired plants. Together, these plants could provide
over 10 percent of the carbon reductions needed to meet the President's
commitment.
The second area of opportunity for new nuclear plants is related to the
implementation of the industry's "Strategic Plan for Building New Nuclear Power
Plants". This Strategic Plan was first issued in November 1990 and has been
updated annually. The Strategic Plan outlines an integrated effort to address
the range of institutional and technical issues on which significant progress
must be achieved to make nuclear power attractive for the 1990s and beyond.
The Plan:
identifies all the significant enabling conditions (technical/industrial,
regulatory, environmental, financial, legislative/legal, organizational,
political, and public acceptance) which must be met to achieve the goal;
assigns lead and supporting responsibilities to the appropriate existing
organizations or standing committees in the industry to detail and implement
the action plan for achieving each condition; and
fosters joint, coordinated efforts between government and industry which would
enhance implementation of the strategies and provide for sharing resource
requirements.
Currently, four standardized advanced light water reactor (ALWR) designs are
being reviewed by the NRC as part of their design certification process. It is
currently expected that two of the designs will receive their certification by
August, 1996, and the other two by December, 1997. The goal of the industry
plan is to have cost-competitive, standardized ALWR designs available in the
marketplace by the mid-1990s, allowing orders to be placed for generating
capacity that would begin to come on-line after the turn of the century.
As with all utility activities that have been undertaken since the baseline
period which tend to reduce, avoid, and sequester greenhouse gases, the final
opportunity for new nuclear units is the recognition of installations that have
come on-line since then. These units are contributing to reducing greenhouse
gas emissions now and will continue to do so well into the next century.
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Barriers:
- For the plants under construction or awaiting final regulatory approval, the
major barriers include:
- the potential for changing regulatory requirements before the existing units
are completed, affecting the schedule and economics of the plants;
- reduction or stabilization in demand for electricity, which delays and
reduces the need for the units under construction; and
- An IRP determination that the units should not be completed.
- For the ALWRs, the major barriers include:
- the competitiveness and "financability" of the new plants versus
alternatives, such as coal;
- uncertainties regarding the NRC new plant siting and licensing processes;
and
- uncertainties regarding regulatory stability and management of high- and
low-level radioactive wastes.
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Solutions:
- In general, successful implementation of the industry "Strategic Plan for
Building New Nuclear Power Plants" would address all of the
barriers/conditions, exclusive of the actual need for new generating capacity,
required to create an environment within which the TVA plants could be
completed and orders for new ALWR's could be considered and implemented.
- Completion of the joint program between the industry and DOE to perform the
first-of-a-kind engineering for two ALWR plants. The Advanced Reactor
Corporation, which is managing the program for the utilities under a
cooperative agreement with DOE, selected two ALWR designs on which to carry out
the first-of-a-kind engineering. $276 million has been committed to the
program by DOE, the utilities, and the design teams.
- Development by 1998 of a private MRS facility and/or a DOE-MRS as an interim
step in a DOE spent fuel management plan.
- Continue federal efforts to complete suitability characterization of the
proposed permanent disposal facility at Yucca Mountain.
- Enhance/improve methods of performing IRP and cost-benefit analysis to
provide a more complete picture of economic performance and alternatives.
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Partnerships:
- DOE, nuclear utilities, and EPRI.
- The Advanced Reactor Corporation/DOE jointly funded program for
first-of-a-kind engineering.
- EPRI-nuclear utility-reactor vendor activities.
Case studies:
- Northern States Power's efforts to start a private MRS.
- The ongoing monitoring of progress on the industry's "Strategic Plan for
Building New Nuclear Power Plants."
- Completion of construction of the TVA's Watts Bar Unit 1; restart of Browns
Ferry Unit 3.
- TVA's IRP process and its results concerning TVA's nuclear plants.
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