[NukeNet] Exelon Studies 8 Texas Sites for Nuclear Reactor Also Considering Tennessee, Mississippi Sites

[Bill Smirnow]

   http://www.mothersalert.org
http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html



http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-utilities-texas-nuclear.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
    Exelon Studies 8 Texas Sites for Nuclear
Reactor
  a..                E-Mail
  b.. Print
  c.. Save



By REUTERS
Published: October 6, 2006
Filed at 8:38 p.m. ET

Skip to next paragraph
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exelon Corp. (EXC.N), the
largest U.S. nuclear power producer, said it is
``actively'' evaluating eight sites in Texas as
possible locations for a new nuclear reactor, a
spokesman said on Friday.

Chicago-based Exelon, which entered the Texas
generation market in 2002 with the purchase of two
aging natural gas-fired power plants from TXU
Corp. (TXU.N), became the fourth company last week
to say it wants to apply for a license to build a
nuclear plant in Texas to meet growing power
needs.

Of the 19 preliminary proposals for new U.S.
reactors, Texas has attracted the most interest,
with four proposals, according to data from the
Nuclear Energy Institute.

The industry, dormant since the 1979 accident at
the Three Mile Island nuclear station in
Pennsylvania, is undergoing a rebirth amid growing
environmental concern about carbon emissions from
fossil-fuel plants and rising costs of natural
gas.

President George W. Bush supports new nuclear
construction and energy legislation passed in 2005
offers billions of dollars in incentives to owners
of the first new plants to go into service.

Two other Texas generators, NRG Energy Inc.
(NRG.N) and TXU Corp., have proposed new reactors
in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas,
which serves about 85 percent of the state's power
needs. In addition, an Amarillo-based real estate
developer is working to attract a reactor to the
panhandle region, outside ERCOT.

Exelon has not disclosed the size of the nuclear
plant it is considering in Texas, but has narrowed
its choice of reactor design to the General
Electric ES Boiling Water Reactor of the
Westinghouse Advanced Passive 1000 design,
according to its letter of intent filed with
federal regulators.

Princeton, New Jersy-based NRG owns 44 percent of
the 2,560-megawatt South Texas Project, located
southwest of Houston, while Dallas-based TXU owns
100 percent of 2,300-MW Comanche Peak station
southwest of Fort Worth.

In June, NRG proposed adding two reactors,
totaling 2,700 MW, at the South Texas location.

TXU said it was studying an expansion at Comanche
Peak but did not disclose how much capacity it
might build. TXU also said it was looking at other
sites in Texas and sites outside the state.

Exelon spokesman Craig Nesbit said the company is
pursuing a new Texas reactor on its own, but he
would not dismiss the idea of a partnership with
one of the other companies. ``I would never shut
the door on anything,'' he said.

Both NRG and TXU have said they would like to
reduce the risk of building new reactors by
attracting partners.

Exelon filed its letter with the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission September 29, three days
after TXU Chairman C. John Wilder told analysts in
New York that the companies had dropped plans to
swap assets.

Wilder said TXU was interested in an ``asset
swap'' with Exelon to expand its generation
outside Texas while helping Exelon alleviate
market-power concerns related to its proposed
merger with Public Service Enterprise Group
(PEG.N).

Exelon called off the $17.7 billion merger in
mid-September, citing problems obtaining approval
of the deal in New Jersey.

TXU, already the largest power generator in Texas,
faces market-power limits as it seeks permits to
build 9,000 MW of coal-fired generation to be
completed before any new nuclear plants.

Exelon is also considering adding reactors in
Illinois and as part of NuStart, a 12-member
consortium looking at sites in Tennessee and
Mississippi.