EnergySolutions is pursuing an application for an Early Site Permit (ESP) for the Kewaunee station in Wisconsin. Kewaunee is on the shore of Lake Michigan, and is where a 560 MW nuclear plant operated from 1974 to 2013. The ESP would be for a new plant of some different design.
EnergySolutions will execute a structured, multi-year, multi-phase approach. This includes initial planning and scoping activities, conducting in-depth studies related to the Kewaunee Power Station site and environmental considerations, and ultimately securing NRC permits.
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An early site permit addresses things like seismology, hydrology, population density in the area, as well as other items not directly related to a particular plant design.
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The NRC has accepted for review the construction permit application for Dow Chemical’s high temperature gas cooled reactors at the Seadrift chemical plant in Texas. These reactors will provide both heat and electricity for use in the chemical plant.
Construction beginning in 4 to 5 years sounds like progress. Great news. Thanks for keeping us informed, Pete.
If you know Dow Chemical history the company was founded to extract bromine from the salt brines in Midland, MI. During WWII they needed bromine to scavenge lead from leaded gasoline used to make high octane aviation fuel. Dow tried to supplement supplies with a barge mounted unit in the Atlantic. But that proved impractical. So they settled on a shore site in Freeport, TX. They soon learned that the oil industry saw natural gas as a waste product. Natural gas flares lit up the night sky near Houston. They contracted for natural gas and Freeport became their largest site.
Nuclear is an alternative to natural gas intended to reduce carbon emissions.
House Republicans are about to wreck Trump’s nuclear-powered dream
The reconciliation bill would gut loan programs and tax credits that make new projects possible.
Earlier this week, two House committees released their sections of the bill, which includes cuts to key energy loan and tax credit programs. If enacted, the provisions would constitute the biggest setback to U.S. energy security in a generation — and nuclear energy would be hardest hit.
Nuclear projects face massive up-front capital costs: multibillion-dollar price tags, decade-long construction timelines and unfamiliar technology risks. As a result, private lenders either charge prohibitive interest rates, or they flat-out refuse to underwrite nuclear projects at all. This is why every commercial nuclear reactor to enter service since the turn of the century has relied on or is applying for a loan from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office — save one, which was built with similar federal support via the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The DOE Loan Programs Office was a truly great government program. It funded projects that couldn’t/wouldn’t normally be funded by the private sector, and actually made a small profit for the tax payer. One reason private sector funding is hard to find for these projects is that it requires sophisticated technical analysis which traditional banks don’t have. DOE had people with those skills on staff so the proposed projects could be analyzed.
I don’t know if Congress zeroing out the funding will be that big of deal because DOGE already zeroed out the staff.