New Nuclear Plant Designs & New Licensing Process

1. New Nuclear Plant Designs &New Licensing Process Alex Marion Executive Director Nuclear Operations & Engineering

2. What is Driving Interest in New Nuclear Plants • Need for power – baseload generation • Margins are becoming critical • Increasing environmental constraints • Volatility in natural gas prices • Increasing recognition & support from public & policymakers

3. Status • 5 Designs certified/under review/being prepared • First two ESPs issued, two more under review • 16 companies & consortia preparing COL applications for 30 reactors in 13 States • First COL applications Fall 2007 • 42 month review schedule • Environmental review critical path • Long lead items being ordered

4. Part 50 Licensing Process Construction Permit Application * Construction Operating License Application Operating License Issued * Operations * Public Comment Opportunity

5. Intent of Part 52 Process • Resolve safety issues before the start of construction • Increase public involvement • Make more information available to the public at the appropriate time in the process • Increase regulatory certainty & predictability • Increase public & investor confidence in licensing process

6. New NRC 10 CFR Part 52 Licensing Process Early Site Permit * Construction Acceptance Criteria Met * Combined License * Construction Operation Design Certification * * Public Comment Opportunity

7. Near Term Deployment5 Designs being Considered • Areva EPR – 1600 MWe Four-Loop PWR • Mitsubishi APWR – 1700 MWe Four-Loop PWR • Westinghouse AP1000 – 1175 MWe Two-Loop PWR • GE ABWR – 1350 MWe BWR • GE ESBWR – 1500 MWe BWR

8. Industry Drive for Better Designs & Increased Safety Margins • 1990s EPRI Utility Requirements Document • Set of common general utility specifications for new nuclear power plants • Joint designer-owner (supplier-customer) project • NRC Policy Statement set expectation for safer designs • Industry delivered safer designs

9. Common Improvements • Two designs -- Use of natural phenomena • Gravity, conduction & convection • Three designs • Additional safety divisions & safety equipment • Designs incorporate lessons learned from 9/11 security reviews on existing plants • More robust designs • Probability of a core damage event from plant-centered events (TMI type accident – LOCA event) significantly reduced • Severe accident mitigation features included in the design

10. Common Improvements • Design to reduce occupational radiation dose • Digital, multi-channel fiber optic I&C • Equipment design-life -- 60 years • Operator task-based as opposed to system-based training • Use of simulators • Designs to facilitate modular construction • Safety-related construction period -- initial 48 month • Goal – 36 – 42 month

11. Common Improvements • Easier maintenance & inspection access • Increased laydown area inside containment • Built in/pre-fabricated equipment access platforms • Improved access to Containment • Improved separation between sets of safety equipment • Radioactive vs nonradioactive • Fire areas , especially inside containment

12. Areva EPR • Improved four-loop PWR • Double containment with annular space maintained at a negative pressure • Four sets of safety equipment as opposed to two • Two sets are bunkered • Increased protection for fuel storage pool

14. Mitsubishi APWR • Similar improvements to Areva’s EPR • Larger generator – 1700 MWe • Smaller generating designs – an option • Based on plants operating in Japan

15. Westinghouse AP1000 • Safety systems rely on natural phenomena (passive) • Gravity, conduction and convection (natural circulation and injection) • Emergency injection via accumulators & gravity feed • Equipment layout ensures core remains underwater in design-basis accident scenarios • Increased safety margins during design basis accident conditions • Simplified and improved reactor coolant systems with canned motor pumps (no shaft seal system) • No bottom mounted instrumentation

16. AP1000 Safety Valves 1400 Pumps 184 3.6 miles nuclear piping 227 miles, electric cable Presuureizer 2100 cu. Ft SG Tube Rupture – No operator action LOCA PCT – 1600F 65% fewer welds 90% fewer supports Standard 1000MW PWR Safety Valves 2850 Pumps 280 20.8 miles, nuclear piping 1725 miles, electric cable Pressurizer – 1400 cu. Ft SG Tube Rupture – Operator action within 10 mins LOCA PCT – 2000F AP1000 Reduction in Components

21. GE ABWR • No reactor recirc system pipework • Recirc pumps mounted directly to RPV • Three separate sets of safety equipment • Diverse EDG & GT generating equipment for loss-of-offsite power

22. Evolution of the BWR

23. GE-ESBWR • 1500MWe natural circulating BWR • No Reactor Recirc Pumps • Emergency injection via accumulators & gravity feed, if feedwater system fails • Natural circulation emergency core cooling • Severe accident management design features