An Exelon nuclear power station in Pennsylvania. (Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg)
By Julie Wernau | Chicago-based Exelon Corp. is moving to preserve for 20 years its option of building a new nuclear power plant — possibly the first new plant in the United States in more than 30 years — in Victoria County, Texas.
Exelon filed an application Thursday through its subsidiary Exelon Nuclear Texas Holdings LLC. At the same time, the company withdrew its application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the construction and operation of that plant. A decision on whether or not to build the plant would be made “years in the future,” the company said.
The “early site permit” application filed Thursday is expected to take
three to four years for the NRC to review and would allow Exelon to
establish the suitability of the site before deciding whether or not to
build. The company said it would lessen the amount of work needed
later if it decides to pursue a licensed nuclear facility.
Exelon picked the 11,500-acre site in 2007 but suspended work on that
application because of an uncertain economy and the anticipation of
lower electricity demand, the company said.
When you have an article about a nuclear station why do you always show one or more of the cooling towers? The purpose of these towers to cool the steam that comes from the turbine that drives the generator. The steam is not radioactive. Such cooling towers are also frequently used for coal burning power plants.