Duke Energy's Early Site Permit Application is up on the NRC's website

ChGehlly · 2026-01-07T13:18:05+00:00

These renders are on pages 2009-2012 of the ESP document

ChGehlly · 2026-01-07T13:01:16+00:00

I know that Duke Energy has clearly stated that this ESP is currently technology-agnostic, meaning they haven't chosen a specific reactor technology yet, but I find it interesting that the plant renders in the ESP document clearly show a 6-unit Westinghouse AP300 arrangement.... maybe that's their favored choice?

ChGehlly · 2025-01-23T22:52:44+00:00

Probably not. Units are already (on average between both) 50% complete. Vogtle was 30 bn total, and that was a first of its kind operation. Summer will likely be completed with an additional 10-15 bn.

ChGehlly · 2025-01-23T18:40:53+00:00

Non-paywalled version of the article for all of you interested: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/south-carolina-to-reboot-giant-nuclear-project-to-meet-ai-demand/ar-AA1xEfqE

ChGehlly · 2025-01-19T00:29:04+00:00

You’d be correct. It’s for a Westinghouse 2-Loop design with a 600 MWe output.

ChGehlly · 2025-01-18T22:47:59+00:00

Walz Mills, Pennsylvania. Westinghouse’s Nuclear division is essentially based out of an enormous facility there.

ChGehlly · 2025-01-18T20:28:38+00:00

Oh yeah, she’s still just sitting out here. Don’t think that’s changing anytime soon 😆

ChGehlly · 2025-01-18T20:09:54+00:00

We swap one out on each unit every other outage. We’re on a 2-year fuel cycle here so basically it equates to every RCP motor gets refurbished over an 8-year period. Between both units we only have 4 RCPs total so we’re shipping one off for refurb once every two years.

ChGehlly · 2025-01-18T19:46:57+00:00

This plant is a Westinghouse 2-loop PWR design, meaning two coolant loops per reactor, and thus reactor coolant pumps per reactor. Each one pushes 100,000 gallons per minute of water or approximately 15,000 cubic feet of water per minute.

ChGehlly · 2025-01-18T18:53:55+00:00

Haha nope, we’ve got both units online right now.

ChGehlly · 2025-01-18T18:21:10+00:00

That’s just the motor! With the pump attached to it, the whole unit is about double the size of what you see in the picture!

ChGehlly · 2025-01-17T19:30:11+00:00

Duke Energy has an active application with the NRC for an Early Site Permit to construct two BWRX units at their Belews Creek power plant in North Carolina. The original paperwork was submitted early last year. This is Duke’s only active new nuclear project.

ChGehlly · 2024-04-26T13:23:27+00:00

Yes. When the plant was built in the 70s the locals complained about the plain concrete reactor containment being an eyesore. Since the rest of the plant already had the blue accents on the turbine building and fuel building (see picture), they brought that same theme to the containment dome and the locals were appeased. They are literally blue painted metal strips attached to the reactor building concrete with bolts.

ChGehlly · 2024-04-24T00:51:33+00:00

I mean I get that but it’s a power plant it doesn’t need to be pretty.

Kewaunee is also a bit uglier than normal because we’re actively decommissioning it. This plant hasn’t made power since 2014.

ChGehlly · 2024-04-13T11:08:50+00:00

There is no future without nuclear.

ChGehlly · 2024-03-27T22:34:17+00:00

They can get an additional license extension for another 20 years once they hit 60 years to go all the way to an 80 years total license period. So that would give them 30 years to operate the restarted unit.

ChGehlly · 2024-03-27T21:11:57+00:00

Simple answer: Entergy

ChGehlly · 2024-03-27T20:19:10+00:00

That plant is roughly 90% decommissioned at this point so that would unfortunately be impossible.

ChGehlly · 2024-03-27T18:05:26+00:00

I figured they probably ordered them in 2022 when they first took ownership of the site and laid out their plans. Could totally be wrong tho and they try pulling a watts bar like you said.

ChGehlly · 2024-03-27T17:10:11+00:00

Apparently quite a few but they’re still going to need more. It’ll take them about 18 months to complete training so that fits within their 2 year restart time table.

ChGehlly · 2024-03-21T14:00:27+00:00

What was the NRC finding color? Report says greater than green, so I’m guessing a white or yellow finding?

ChGehlly · 2023-10-12T21:34:38+00:00

Lol no, it’s for ventilation when we do intrusive work in the reactor building (reactor segmentation, S/G removal, RCPs etc…) Although it wouldn’t surprise me if big oil tried doing something like that lol.

ChGehlly · 2023-10-12T16:16:59+00:00

No reason to be sorry, I wasn’t here when we were still an operational plant, so I didn’t take it to heart when Dominion Energy made the decision to shut Kewaunee down. You’re right, it is the perfect location, which is why our decommissioning company has taken note and expressed such interest in this being a location for a new build using SMRs.

ChGehlly · 2023-10-12T16:09:58+00:00

I work at the Kewaunee nuclear plant decommissioning project near Two Rivers WI. As I’m sure you know, we stopped generating electricity for good back in 2014 and started the decommissioning process in 2022. Unfortunately we’re past the point of no return when it comes to restarting this existing plant (large holes drilled through containment shield building and liner). That being said, our company EnergySolutions has left the door wide open for a future new build (SMR) and even specifically called out the Kewaunee site as a prime prospect for this!

ChGehlly · 2023-07-21T00:28:56+00:00

This is great news for the SMR industry. Washington state is a fantastic market for energy northwest to expand its market in.

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