[NukeNet] Third New Nuke Planned for Texas

[Mike Ewall]

This on top of proposals for an experimental new reactor in Andrews 
county and new nukes at South Texas Project...


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/4088404.html

Aug. 1, 2006, 11:04PM
Amarillo developer wants to build nuclear plant

Associated Press

AMARILLO ­ An Amarillo developer is interested in bringing a nuclear 
power plant to this Panhandle city.

Amarillo Power is proposing the plant that, pending regulatory 
approval, could be completed and online within a decade, according to 
a copyrighted story in today's Amarillo-Globe News.

The proposal calls for a two-unit, 2,700-megawatt advanced boiled 
water reactor designed by General Electric, documents obtained by the 
newspaper through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other 
sources show.

A megawatt is enough power to serve between 700 and 1,000 homes.

Amarillo Power is controlled by George Chapman, who did not 
immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday.

Though no location was disclosed in the documents, information in 
them indicated the "selection of the preferred site" would be made in 
the near future.

The Amarillo area has long been home to Pantex, the nation's only 
nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility.

Tom Smith, director of the Texas office of Public Citizen, did not 
immediately return a call seeking comment about the proposed venture.

The price tag for the nuclear power plant is unknown, but a similar 
proposal to add 2,700 megawatts at a South Texas Project nuclear 
power plant is projected to cost $5.2 billion for two GE reactors, 
according to Nucleonics Week newsletter. Last month, Princeton, N. 
J.-based NRG Energy Inc. announced in a news release that it had 
filed a letter of intent with the commission to increase the 
megawatts at the South Texas plant in Bay City.

That nuclear plant has been providing power to more than 1 million 
homes in southeast and south central Texas since Unit 1 went into 
service in August 1988. The second unit began producing power 10 months later.

On Monday, commission spokesman Dave McIntyre confirmed that Amarillo 
Power notified the federal agency of its plans in March, but asked 
the agency to keep the proposal confidential, which federal regulations allow.

Within the past week, Amarillo Power sent the commission a letter 
saying it no longer considered the information proprietary.

Before it obtains a license from the commission, Amarillo Power will 
seek financing to build the plant, documents show. Federal law 
requires the commission ensure a company meets financial 
qualifications to construct and operate a nuclear power plant.