4 Aug (NucNet): There are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing the licences for construction and operation of two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at Duke Energy’s William States Lee site in Cherokee County, South Carolina, a final safety evaluation report by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff says.
The NRC said its staff will provide the report and final environmental impact statement on the application to the Commission for the mandatory hearing phase of the licensing process, expected to take place later this year.
In that hearing, the Commission will examine whether the staff’s review supports the findings necessary to issue the licences.
Following the hearing, the Commission will vote on whether to authorise the staff to issue the licences. Duke Energy submitted its application for the William States Lee site in December 2007.
The new units would be built on the site of Duke Power’s planned Cherokee nuclear station. In the early 1970s, Duke Power started construction of a three-reactor nuclear power plant at the site. However, the project stalled due to economic problems in the early 1980s, leading to its eventual abandonment.
The NRC certified the amended 1,100-MW AP1000 design in 2012.
Duke Energy owns and operates six nuclear stations with 11 reactor units. They are Brunswick (2 units), Catawba (2), Harris (1) McGuire (2), Oconee (3) and Robinson (1). A seventh station, the single-unit Crystal River, was shut down permanently in 2013.
