Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) said it wants the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to issue the operating license for the two units at Plant Vogtle in Georgia once the commission approves the AP1000 reactor design, according to Bloomberg.
Southern made the comments at the start of NRC hearings on the Vogtle licenses, the first such hearings on a new reactor license application since the 1970s.
Southern said it wants the NRC to issue the license right away rather than wait 30 days after it publishes the rule in the Federal Register. The company wants to stay on schedule for the units’ scheduled completion in 2016 and 2017. The rule could be issued in early 2012.
Southern is on track to build the first new nuclear power plant in the U.S. in more than 30 years when it begins construction on the two 1,100 MW Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. NRC has already allowed Southern to perform limited construction at the plant site.
Scana Corp. has proposed building two AP1000 nuclear reactors at its Summer power plant in South Carolina. A hearing for that project is scheduled for Oct. 12, the article said.
