NRG's application to expand nuclear plant accepted

NRG Energy Inc., the second-largest Texas power producer, said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted its application to build the first new U.S. reactors to be licensed in three decades, putting the proposal on schedule for construction to begin in 2010.

The acceptance confirms that the Sept. 24 application is complete and addresses all necessary subject areas, Princeton, New Jersey-based NRG said Friday in a statement. The two new units, planned at the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Bay City, Texas, may be completed in 2015, the company said.

"The clock has officially started," NRG Chief Executive Officer David Crane said in the statement.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it wants more information before establishing a complete technical-review schedule for NRG's proposal. The NRC expects to receive applications for 32 new reactors through 2009.

Among other companies pursuing new nuclear construction, Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group Inc. submitted a partial license application in July, seeking permission to build another reactor at its plant in Lusby, Maryland.

Dominion Resources Inc. this week applied to build a third reactor at its North Anna nuclear plant in Virginia. The Tennessee Valley Authority in October applied to expand a nuclear plant in Alabama.

In Utah, Transition Power Development, a private equity group, wants to build a two-unit nuclear generating plant somewhere in the eastern part of the state. The plant would cost around $3 billion and would generate 3,000 megawatts of electricity.