NRC to Hold Mandatory Hearing on North Anna New Reactor Application

         Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Press Release

No: 17-011 March 9, 2017

CONTACT: Scott Burnell 301-415-8200

NRC to Hold Mandatory Hearing on North Anna New Reactor Application March 23 in Rockville, Md.‌

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct a mandatory hearing March 23 on an application for a Combined License to build and operate a new reactor at the North Anna site in Virginia. This hearing marks the final step in the agency’s Part 52 reactor licensing process.

The Commission’s hearing will include testimony and exhibits from applicant Dominion Virginia Power, as well as NRC staff, on the question of whether the staff’s review adequately supports the findings necessary to issue the license. The Commission will vote later this year on whether that question has been properly answered.

The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. on March 23, in the Commission Hearing Room at NRC Headquarters, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. The hearing will be open to public observation and will be webcast. A detailed agenda and presentation slides will be available in advance on the Commission’s meeting transcript page.

Dominion is applying for permission to build and operate an Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) at North Anna, adjacent to the company’s two existing reactors. The company submitted its application on Nov. 26, 2007. The NRC certified the 1,600-megawatt ESBWR design following a Commission vote in September 2014. More information on the ESBWR certification process is available on the NRC website.

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 Nov. 15, 2016. The NRC completed itsenvironmental review and published the final impact statement for the proposed reactor in February 2010.