Resources & Stats

This fact sheet describes the new reactor licensing process that was put into place by the NRC in 10 CFR Part 52 that was strengthened and affirmed by Congress as part of the 1992 Energy Policy Act. Also covered are incentives included in the 2005 Energy Policy Act designed to spur the construction of new nuclear power plants.

October 2010

Key Facts

• The vast majority of today’s 104 U.S. nuclear power plants were licensed during the 1960s and 1970s. Commercial nuclear energy was new, and the regulatory process evolved along with the new industry. Plants were issued a construction permit based on a preliminary design. Safety issues were not fully resolved until the plant was essentially complete, which meant that the public did not have access to the details of the design until construction was nearly complete.

• To address this flaw, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1989 established a new licensing process: 10 CFR Part 52. Congress affirmed and strengthened the new licensing process as part of the 1992 Energy Policy Act.

• The new approach to licensing nuclear power plants moves the licensing and safety issues to the front of three processes: approval of standard designs, early site permits, and combined construction permits and operating licenses. In addition, it provides greater opportunity for the public to be involved in the process. To ensure a company builds a new plant according to its license, the NRC introduced a process that determines which kinds of inspections, tests, analyses and acceptance criteria (ITAAC) it will use to ensure the plant is built according to the design approved in the licensing proceedings.

New Licensing Process
The new NRC licensing process provides for design certification, early site approval and combined licensing for construction and operation.

Design Certification
Design certification allows plant designers to secure advance NRC approval of standard plant designs. Later, these plant designs can be ordered, licensed for a particular site and built.

Following an exhaustive NRC safety review, agency approval of standard designs is formalized via a specific design certification rulemaking. This process allows the public to review and comment on the designs up front—before anyone builds a plant of this design. NRC design certification fully resolves safety issues associated with the design. The NRC approves the design for 15 years.

Once a design certification application has been submitted, the NRC takes between 36 and 60-plus months to complete the review and rulemaking, depending on whether the agency previously has reviewed and approved the technology.

To date, the NRC has certified four advanced-plant designs, including GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s (GEH) Advanced Boiling Water Reactor and Westinghouse’s AP1000. Three additional designs are under NRC review: GEH’s ESBWR, AREVA’s U.S. EPR and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ U.S. APWR design. In addition, the NRC expects to receive several more applications for design certification over the next few years.

Design standardization offers significant benefits. The approach anticipates that reactors will be built in families of the same design, except for a limited number of site-specific differences. Standardization will reduce construction and operating cost, and lead to greater efficiencies and simplicity in nuclear plant operations, including safety, maintenance, training and spare-parts procurement. Standardization is a major departure from the first generation of U.S. nuclear reactors, which are nearly one-of-a-kind.

International experience demonstrates the benefits of standardization. The French nuclear program is based on standardized nuclear plant designs. France’s 59 reactors provide 78 percent of the nation’s electricity.

Early Site Approval
The early site permit (ESP) process enables companies to obtain approval from the NRC for a nuclear power plant site before deciding to build a plant. The process resolves any site suitability issues before companies commit funds to a project. Companies can “bank” sites approved by the NRC for up to 20 years and build when the time is right. Having a pre-approved site can dramatically shorten the time to bring a new plant to market. However, the NRC does not require an applicant for a new-plant license to obtain an ESP.

ESP applications consist of three components: a site safety analysis, an environmental report and emergency planning information. Federal, state and local government officials and the public have opportunities to participate in each of these at various stages during the NRC review.

An ESP review process that encompasses a range of reactor designs enables companies to select the best design when they proceed with a decision to build. Through the use of the “plant parameters envelope” concept, the NRC can assess the suitability of a site based on a generalized plant description that takes into account the characteristics of several designs—for example, the height of the tallest building and the greatest cooling water requirement for any design under consideration. Using this approach, the NRC has the information it needs to assess site suitability, and companies can choose the best technology when they proceed with a new plant.

It takes between 12 and 24 months to develop an ESP application, depending on whether it is a “greenfield” site or a site adjacent to an existing facility. Once the applicant submits the application, the process of NRC review and approval—including the public hearing—takes approximately 33 months. The industry and NRC staff are looking at ways to improve the effectiveness of the review and reduce the review and approval schedules.

Combined Construction and Operating License
NRC regulations provide for issuance of a combined construction permit and operating license, also known as a combined operating license (COL). A COL may reference a certified design, an ESP or both.

All issues resolved in connection with earlier proceedings associated with a standard design or site will be considered resolved for purposes of the COL proceeding. This makes the process more effective and efficient by allowing the NRC review and a public COL hearing to focus on remaining issues related to plant ownership, design issues not resolved earlier, and organization and operational programs.

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 2007 and Grand Gulf in 2008—that part of the approval process was behind them.

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 policies 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
• 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.

What Is Driving Interest in New Nuclear Plants?
Several factors are contributing to the growing interest in new nuclear power plants: rising electricity demand, clean-air concerns, the performance and reliability of existing plants, and the tight supply—and price volatility—of natural gas. These factors, along with excellent nuclear plant safety and reliability, have contributed to increasing public and policymaker support for nuclear energy.

• Electricity Demand. DOE projects that the United States will need 21 percent more electricity by 2030.
• Clean Air. Concern about air pollution is leading to increasingly tight restrictions on emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury. The federal government also may decide to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas. Nuclear energy accounts for nearly three-quarters of the U.S. electric generation with none of these emissions.
• Excellent Performance. The nation’s 104 nuclear power plants operate at high levels of safety, reliability and affordability. Results from the NRC’s reactor oversight process, posted on the agency’s Web site, show consistently high safety performance across the industry. The average capacity factor for nuclear plants—a measure of reliability—has remained about 90 percent since 2000. And nuclear plants are the lowest-cost electricity providers, producing electricity for about 1.7 cents per kilowatt-hour.
• Price Stability. U.S. commercial nuclear reactors depend on uranium as a fuel source. As a result of abundant supply worldwide, the fuel prices for uranium and, thus, nuclear power plants are stable and predictable over the long term.   
• Support for Nuclear Energy. A national survey conducted in September 2008 found a high level of support among the public for nuclear energy, with 74 percent saying they favor it as one way to produce electricity. The survey also found that 89 percent agree the United States should take advantage of all low-carbon energy sources, including nuclear, hydropower and renewable energy to produce the electricity needed while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The United States needs a diversified portfolio of electricity sources that includes nuclear energy, renewables (wind, solar and biomass), and advanced coal and natural gas-fired generation. The nuclear energy industry and the federal government are working to ensure that electric companies will have the option of building new nuclear reactors when they need large new power plants.

To learn the status of new-plant activities in the United States, see the “New Nuclear Plant Status” table.