Four "new" reactor projects cancelled in Texas and North Carolina

Industry plans for four new reactor projects in Texas and North Carolina have collapsed.

Reports the Dallas News: "Plans to build two new reactors at the South Texas Project nuclear facility outside Bay City hit a road block Tuesday. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled that a partnership between NRG and Toshiba Corp. through the holding company Nuclear Innovation North America violated a U.S law prohibiting foreign control of nuclear power plants." The holding company will appeal. The case appears similar if not identical to the situation at Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Maryland. There, Électricité de France was left as sole owner of a proposed third reactor after U.S. partner, Constellation Energy pulled out, leaving the French utility flying solo in the umbrella corporation they had created, UniStar. Foreign ownership and domination of a US reactor is prohibited under federal law via the Atomic Energy Act. Meanwhile, back at NRC Headquarters, federal officials are making a "fresh assessment" of the foreign ownership prohibition and how it might be modified for a voting paper to be handed over to the Nuclear "Railroad" Commissioners.

In North Carolina, the nuclear retreat continues apace. Duke Energy suspended its application for two new reactor units at its Shearon Harris site in North Carolina. The company said it saw no resource need for two new reactors based on the likely electricity needs of its customers for at least the next 15 years.  Although Duke continues to pursue plans for new reactors at Levy, FL and Gaffney, SC it has no firm commitment to either plant.