Entergy, Equagen and Enercon
08 April 2009
Entergy has announced it will team with Enercon to provide nuclear services with a special focus on licensing and new build. The partnership will take effect with Entergy's wider restructuring.
The companies announced yesterday that their pairing was a "natural fit" and they would be able to provide a "full-spectrum" of services. Specifically mentioned, however, were licensing and preparations for new build.
Entergy is seen as a leader in nuclear plant licensing. Of its 11 reactors, four have already gained Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for up to 20 years operation beyond their original 40-year licenses, while four more applications are under review and three more are officially scheduled for submission. Furthermore, Entergy has the leading role in licensing for the NuStart consortium, which has put in two applications to build new reactors.
Entergy's licenses
Of Entergy's 11 reactors, all are at some stage of the relicensing process:
Completed:
Arkansas 1 and 2
James A. Fitzpatrick
Palisades
Under review:
Pilgrim 1 (January 2006)
Vermont Yankee (January 2006)
Indian Point 2 and 3 (April 2007)
Scheduled:
Waterford 3 (January 2011)
Grand Gulf (January 2012)
River Bend (January 2013)
Dates in brackets indicate actual or expected submission dates to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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Enercon will contribute to the team in line with its experience in providing a range of services from strategic planning and evaluation and site selection as well as the development of licencing applications. Entergy will team with Enercon through its forthcoming Equagen subsidiary, which is the to be the operator of Entergy's nuclear power plants.
In 2007 Entergy embarked on a major restructuring to separate its state-regulated utility business from other business units. Enexus will be created to own six of Entergy's nuclear reactors making up almost 5000 MWe of capacity as the only stand-alone publicly traded nuclear generation company in the USA.
Entergy will own 100% of Enexus and the two will then create Equagen as a services provider able to operate Enexus' six reactors, provide management and technical services for the five that will remain with Entergy and take on similar contracts with other firms.
Already Entergy has been involved in work to extend the operating lives of nuclear power plants in Brazil, China, France, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Spain. This kind of work would be carried out in future by Equagen, in collaboration with Enercon.