Exelon may join the Texas nuclear plant rush
Texas seems to be the destination of choice for major investments in nuclear power plants. I came across a story in the Chicago Tribune titled Nuclear power push revs up; paperwork keeps ‘option open’ about Exelon’s recent announcement that they are looking at about eight different sites in Texas with the idea of building a two reactor nuclear power station with total capacity of about 3000 MWe. Exelon has not yet chosen a plant design; it is considering designs from both GE and Westinghouse.
By my count that makes four separate companies with a possible 9 new plants in the great state of Texas.
- Amarillo Power – 2
- TXU – 3
- NRG – 2
- Exelon – 2
Of course, Exelon’s President, Chris Crane, was careful not to contradict his boss, John Rowe. When announcing the company’s plan to file paperwork with the NRC in preparation for a project in Texas, Mr. Crane carefully stated that his company would not build unless several conditions were met in advance, including a resolution to the problem of storing spent (his words) nuclear fuel.