Testing the New Reactor Licensing Process
Through its Nuclear Power 2010 initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy funded a portion of the costs to support applications for early site permits for the Clinton, Grand Gulf and North Anna nuclear power plant sites. The NRC approved ESPs for all three sites.

In addition, DOE is partially funding efforts to test the NRC’s new COL process. The objective is to demonstrate the new processes so that a COL can be issued and construction can begin in 2010. Completing the detailed design for two reactor designs is an essential part of the testing because it will help ensure that applications for COLs are complete and meet NRC standards for license applications.

Applying the NRC Licensing Process
Two of the companies proposing to build reactors had sites approved by the NRC through the ESP process prior to submitting their COL applications. Because they “banked” these approved sites, when they submitted their COL applications—North Anna in November 2007 and Grand Gulf in February 2008—that part of the approval process was behind them.

The other companies that plan to apply for COLs in the next few years are preparing applications for site approval simultaneously with their COL applications. They will request site approval as part of the COL process.

Currently, 17 companies and consortia are pursuing plans to build more than 30 reactors in the United States based on five standard designs.

Energy Policy Act of 2005
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes a wide range of incentives to encourage new-reactor construction. These include:

• loan guarantees for various forms of innovative and new, low-emission generation
• nuclear energy production tax credits for the first 6,000 megawatts of electricity from new advanced reactors at 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour—a tax credit comparable to that provided to wind energy
• a new assistant secretary for nuclear energy position within DOE
• standby insurance, underwritten by the federal government, to protect those companies building new reactors from the risk of regulatory delays and other unforeseen setbacks in advancing first-of-a-kind reactor technology
• authorization of almost $3 billion in nuclear research and development to support such efforts as testing of new licensing processes and the demonstration of nuclear energy to produce hydrogen.