The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Monday there were no safety issues associated with the proposed Levy County, Fla., site for two AP1000 reactors.
The final safety evaluation was issued Monday. “The report concludes there are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing the license for construction and operation of the proposed reactors at the site,” the NRC said.
Application for the two-reactor project was submitted in July 2008 by Progress Energy Florida (PEF), which is now Duke Energy Florida (DEF). PEF announced in 2006 that it had selected 5,100 acres in Levy County for the project, which was originally estimated to cost $5 billion. But the company has only said it is evaluating “potential sites for new plant capacity,” for Florida.
In the meantime, with natural gas prices and demand for energy growth both low, large plant projects are being categorically dropped. , Construction costs estimates, concurrently, have skyrocketed. It is now estimated that $3 billion alone will be required for transmission upgrades to accommodate a new nuclear power plant in Levy County.
The application for Levy County, however, calls for evaluating the site based on the potential for two AP1000 nuclear reactors. In 2012, the NRC certified an amended design for the AP1000.
Site safety is one aspect of the regulatory process geared towards evaluating the location, as opposed to evaluating the design or the construction of a power plant. The NRC completed its environment review and issued the final impact statement for the proposed reactors in Levy County in April 2012.