Nuclear Power 2010 Program
The "Nuclear Power 2010 Program" was launched in 2002 by President George W. Bush in 2002, 13 months after the beginning of his presidency, in order to restart orders for nuclear power reactors in the U.S. by providing subsidies for a handful of Generation III+ demonstration plants. The expectation was that these plants would come online by 2010, but it was not met.
In March 2017, the leading nuclear-plant maker,
Overview
The "Nuclear Power 2010 Program" was unveiled by the U.S.
Three consortia responded in 2004 to the
- The passively safe version of the BWR).
- The NuStart Energy Development, LLC consortium consists of GE Energy, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and Westinghouse Electric Company and has chosen the General Electric Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) and the Westinghouse Advanced Passive 1000 (AP1000, a PWR) reactor as candidates. The NuStart consortium was disbanded on 30 June 2012.[2]
- The third consortium, led by TVA, includes General Electric, Advanced Boiling Water Reactor(ABWR).
On September 22, 2005, NuStart selected Port Gibson (the
NRG Energy announced in June 2006 that it would explore building two ABWRs at the South Texas Project. Four ABWRs were already operating in Japan at that time.
The original goal of bringing two new reactors online by 2010 was missed, and "of more than two dozen projects that were considered, only two showed signs of progress and even this progress was uncertain".[6]
As of March 2017, the Plant Vogtle and Vigil C. Summer plants (a total of four reactors) in the southeastern U.S. that have been under construction since the late 2000s have been left to an unknown fate.[7]
Energy Policy Act of 2005
The Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, has a number of articles related to nuclear power, and three specifically to the 2010 Program.[8]
First, the
Also, the government would cover cost overruns due to regulatory delays, up to $500 million each for the first two new nuclear reactors, and half of the overruns due to such delays (up to $250 million each) for the next four reactors. Delays in construction due to vastly increased regulation were a primary cause of the high cost of some earlier plants.
Finally, "A production tax credit of 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 6,000 megawatt-hours from new nuclear power plants for the first eight years of their operation, subject to a $125 million annual limit. The production tax credit places nuclear energy on an equal footing with other sources of emission-free power, including wind and closed-loop biomass."[8]
The Act also funds a
project and does not fall under the 2010 Program.Recent developments
Between 2007 and 2009, 13 companies applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction and operating licenses to build 25 new nuclear power reactors in the United States. However, the case for widespread nuclear plant construction was eroded due to abundant natural gas supplies, slow electricity demand growth in a weak U.S. economy (
Only a few new reactors will enter service by 2020.[9] These will not be cheaper than coal or natural gas, but they are an attractive investment for utilities because the government mandated that taxpayers pay for construction in advance.[12][13] In 2013, four aging reactors were permanently closed due to the stringent requirements of the NRC and actions by local politicians.[14][15]
See also
- Nuclear power plant
- Boiling water reactors
- Pressurized water reactors
- Generation III reactor
- List of Prospective Nuclear Reactors
- Global Nuclear Energy Partnership
- Nuclear power in the United States
- Nuclear safety
- Nuclear safety in the United States
- Nuclear whistleblowers
Notes
- ^ Gough, Paul (May 18, 2012). "Westinghouse cuts 200 employees". American City Business Journals. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
- ^ "Nuclear Energy Public-Private Partnership Achieves Industry Milestones, Now Disbanding". NuStart Energy (press release). June 11, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
- ^ "NuStart Selects Grand Gulf, Bellefonte for Advanced Nuclear Plant Licenses". PRNewswire. September 22, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2008.
- ^ Archived February 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine[dead link]
- ^ "GE Nuclear sees doubling of sales despite losing Westinghouse". Gulf Times. February 18, 2006. Archived from the original on July 18, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2008.
- S2CID 146270304.
- New York City, New York, United States. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
- ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 7, 2005. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b Ayesha Rascoe (February 9, 2012). "U.S. approves first new nuclear plant in a generation". Reuters.
- ^ Eileen O'Grady. Entergy says nuclear remains costly, Reuters, May 25, 2010.
- ^ Terry Ganey. AmerenUE pulls plug on project Archived 2012-07-13 at the Wayback Machine, Columbia Daily Tribune, April 23, 2009.
- ^ Matthew Wald (June 11, 2013). "Atomic Power's Green Light or Red Flag". New York Times.
- ^ "Experts: Even higher costs and more headaches for nuclear power in 2012". MarketWatch. December 28, 2011.
- ^ Sewell, Abby; Bensinger, Ken, "How San Onofre's new steam generators sealed nuclear plant's fate", LA Times, archived from the original on July 22, 2013, retrieved April 9, 2014
- ^ Matthew Wald (June 14, 2013). "Nuclear Plants, Old and Uncompetitive, Are Closing Earlier Than Expected". New York Times.
External links
- DOE Program Page
- "Industry Progress Towards New American Nuclear Units, by a pro-nuclear organization". Archived from the original on December 17, 2004. Retrieved June 21, 2005.
- "News Article". Archived from the original on August 9, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2005.
- BusinessWeek article of June 29, 2006[dead link]