By Associated Press
Scottsboro AL – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans a public meeting Tuesday night at Northeast Alabama Community College on a proposed nuclear plant in Jackson County.
A group of power utilities is expected to submit an application to the NRC on Oct. 31 for a license to build and run two reactors at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Bellefonte site near Hollywood, TVA spokesman John Moulton said.
As part of that group, TVA would be the licensee because it owns the site, he said.
NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said Tuesday's meeting, set for 7 p.m. in the Tom Bevill Lyceum, will be for informational purposes only. He said the public is invited to ask questions.
The type of plant proposed is a Westinghouse Corp.-designed structure with two reactors producing 1,000 megawatts of electricity each.
Hannah said the advanced pressurized water reactor design uses gravity to circulate cooling water instead of pumps used in standard pressurized water reactors.
After the application for a construction and operating license is submitted, he said, the NRC will take 60 days to review it for accuracy. If it's accepted, the application will be placed in the Federal Register for public review.
A series of studies and public hearings on safety and environmental aspects of the project could be scheduled early next year, Hannah said.
Moulton said the entire review process could take four years.
TVA halted construction of Bellefonte in the late 1980s because of what it said was a projected decrease in power demand in the region. It had spent about $4.2 billion on the unfinished plant.
Two years ago, NuStart Energy Development, an alliance of 11 utilities and manufacturers, selected Bellefonte as one of its top sites for the country's first new nuclear plant in 30 years. The work would create about 2,000 construction jobs over four years and up to 400 permanent positions at each site.
According to NuStart, each plant would cost between $1.5 billion and $25 billion.
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Information from: The Huntsville Times, http://www.al.com/hsvtimes/hsv.html