COMPLETE CALVERT CLIFFS APPLICATION FOR NEW REACTOR
AVAILABLE ON NRC WEB SITE
Printable Version

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made available to the public the final portion of a combined license (COL) application for a new reactor at the Calvert Cliffs site near Lusby, Md. The NRC had previously received the application’s environmental report and posted it to the agency’s Web site.

The applicant, UniStar, submitted the application’s safety report and associated information March 17. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/col/calvert-cliffs.html.

The UniStar COL application seeks approval to build and operate an Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at the site, approximately 40 miles south of Annapolis. The EPR is an Areva-designed pressurized water reactor, with a nominal output of approximately 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Areva filed its application Dec. 11, 2007, to certify the design, a version of which is currently under construction at the Olkiluoto site in Finland and at Flamanville, France. The EPR application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/design-cert/epr.html.

The NRC staff is currently conducting an initial check of the Calvert Cliffs safety report to determine whether it contains sufficient information required for a formal review. The staff has already determined that UniStar’s environmental report has sufficient information for the agency to formally “docket,” or file, that part of the application and begin a technical review. The docket number for this application is 52-016. If the safety report passes the initial check, the NRC will docket the entire application for review; this decision is expected by early June. If the staff accepts the entire application, the NRC will then notice an opportunity for the public to participate in an adjudicatory hearing on the application.

The NRC is currently reviewing COL applications for reactors at four other locations:

• the Lee site in South Carolina;
• the South Texas Project site in Texas;
• the Bellefonte site in Alabama, and;
• the North Anna site in Virginia.

The agency is also conducting an acceptance check on an application for the Harris site in North Carolina and the Grand Gulf site in Mississippi. The NRC expects 12 more applications in 2008. Information about the new reactor licensing process is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactor-licensing.html.

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Friday, April 18, 2008