Ahmadinejad will be so jealous

NY Times:

In a bid to take the lead in the race to revive the nuclear power industry, an energy company will ask the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday for permission to build two reactors in Texas.

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The company, NRG Energy, based in Princeton, N.J., wants to be the first to pour concrete in the main section of the plant, allowing it to qualify for the maximum federal benefits, David Crane, its chief executive, said in a telephone interview.

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Three other companies are likely to apply for licenses by the end of the year, according to industry experts. One of those, Constellation Energy, like NRG, has also ordered parts for its plant, planned for Calvert County, Md., and says it believes it has an advantage because its reactor will be precisely modeled on one now under construction in France.

But Mr. Crane of NRG hopes to beat Constellation to the punch.

“By filing first, we’ll be able to maintain or increase or lead in the N.R.C. process,” he said. “It’s akin to being in a one-mile race and we’re ahead after the first lap.”

In August, NRG announced that it had selected Toshiba to lead construction of the two-unit reactor designed by General Electric, to be built at a site 90 miles southwest of Houston. (It is still negotiating to use the G.E. design.) The project has an estimated cost of $6 billion to $7 billion.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the first two reactors qualify for $500 million in “standby support,” or insurance against regulatory delay; the next four units are eligible for $250 million each.

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The site sounds like it is close to the current South Texas Nuclear Project which was built in the 1970's. It is a sign of how unhealthy the environmental wackos have made the business that the government would have to provide substantial funds to insure against regulatory delay. You can be sure that if there is an energy project of any kind some wacko group will oppose it and most tend to go nuclear over nukes. Meanwhile, Mr. Science Ahmadinejad eat your heart out.