NRC withdraws from 'redundant' study

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has formally withdrawn plans to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for Dominion Energy's planned North Anna 3 following an earlier decision to revert to the reactor design originally envisaged for the Virginia site.

The NRC formally announced its plans to prepare a SEIS in 2011, following Dominion's 2009 decision to change the reactor technology referenced in its construction and operation licence (COL) application from GE-Hitachi's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' US Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (US APWR). A final EIS was completed for the North Anna ESBWR COL application in 2010, and the supplementary statement would have identified any significant changes resulting from the switch to the new reactor design.

In April 2013, Dominion formally notified the regulator that it planned to revert to the ESBWR technology. As a result, the SEIS is no longer needed.

North Anna received an Early Site Permit (ESP) from the NRC in November 2007, declaring the site suitable for a new nuclear power plant on safety, environmental and related grounds but not specifying any technology. According to NRC schedules, the COL application process for North Anna is likely to be complete around the middle of 2016.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News