Country United States | Units planned 2 x 1117 MW Construction cost 11 billion USD (estimate) | |
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Similar Victoria County Station, Saxton Nuclear Generatin, Pathfinder Nuclear Generatin, Marble Hill Nuclear Power Pl, Black Fox Nuclear Power Pl | ||
The William States Lee III Nuclear Station is a planned two-unit nuclear power plant. Duke Energy filed the Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) application for the plant on December 13, 2007 to the NRC. On December 19, 2016, the NRC issued two Combined Licenses authorizing Duke to build and operate two AP1000 reactors at the site.
Contents
The plant is named for William States Lee III (1929–1996), former chief executive officer (CEO) of Duke Energy (1982–94). This site will be adjacent to the Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant site which was never completed and abandoned in the early 1980s, and used by James Cameron as a film set for the 1989 movie The Abyss.
Costs and economics
In December 2007, Duke Power announced that it would spend $160 million in 2008 on the plant and that total costs could range 5–6 billion dollars. In November 2008, Duke estimated the overnight cost of the plant at $14 billion.
Licensing and construction
Duke submitted the Lee application on Dec. 12, 2007. The NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards independently reviewed aspects of the application that concern safety, as well as the staff’s final safety evaluation report. The committee provided the results of its review to the Commission on Dec. 14, 2015. The NRC completed its environmental review and issued the final impact statement for the proposed William States Lee reactors in December 2013.
The Commission authorized the agency’s Office of New Reactors to issue the licenses, having found the staff’s review of Duke’s application adequate to make the necessary regulatory safety and environmental findings. The licenses were issued Dec. 19. The licenses contain conditions, including:
Reactor data
The William States Lee III Nuclear Generating Station will consist of two reactors.