NRC completes safety evaluation of proposed nuclear reactor in Virginia

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff recently completed their safety evaluation for a combined license for a proposed nuclear reactor at the North Anna site near Mineral, Virginia.

The Final Safety Evaluation Report found no safety aspects that would preclude the issuance of the requested license.

The NRC staff will provide the report and the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to the Commission for the mandatory hearing phase of the licensing process, which will take place later this year. In the hearing, the Commission will determine if the staff’s review supports the findings required to issue a license. The Commission will then vote on whether to approve the license.

Dominion Virginia Power submitted the license application on Nov. 26, 2007 to build an Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor at the North Anna site. The NRC certified the design in 2014.

The NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards independently evaluated the safety aspects of the North Anna application. On Nov. 15, 2016, the committee provided the results of its review to the Commission. The NRC issued an Early Site Permit for North Anna in November 2007, and the agency supplemented the permit’s environmental review for the proposed North Anna reactor in March 2010.