Partnership To Evaluate US EPR For New US Clean Energy Park
Written by NucNet
Friday, 19 June 2009
A partnership of US companies is to evaluate a Department of Energy (DOE) site in the state of Ohio as a potential location for construction of Arevas US Evolutionary Power Reactor (US EPR) design.
Duke Energy, Areva, the US Enrichment Corporation (USEC), UniStar Nuclear Energy and the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative said yesterday that they want to pursue the development of the design atthe countrys first clean energy park project on the Portsmouth site in Piketon.
Duke Energy said the partnership, known as the Southern Ohio Clean Energy Park Alliance, would also prepare a plant siting study and licensing documents for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that could lead to building the US EPR.
The DOEs Portsmouth site is on a 1,500 hectare reservation in Pike County, Ohio. The alliance said the site has many of the vital resources needed to develop a centrally-located commercial nuclear energy park in the countrys Midwest region.
The alliance said it would seek DOE funding for the initial phase of the project, which would include development of a generic early site permit and review of site decommissioning plans.
Certification of the US EPR design is under way in the US and five utilities have already selected the design for their potential reactor construction plans.
