North Anna power plant. (Photo: Dominion Energy)
Dominion Energy Virginia is seeking a 20-year renewal of the early site permit (ESP) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued for its North Anna nuclear power plant site in Virginia. North Anna’s current ESP is set to expire on November 27, 2027.
On July 14, Dominion submitted the ESP renewal request for North Anna; the site in question is adjacent to Unit 1 and Unit 2 of the Louisa County, Va., facility. The NRC acknowledged receiving the application on July 28 and will now review the application before docketing it in the Federal Register and commencing with the review process.
Further context: Under 10 CFR Part 52, an ESP allows applicants to obtain NRC approval for a site for future reactors. The NRC issued Dominion its ESP for North Anna in 2007. At the time, the utility was interested in building two additional reactors at the plant.
The NRC later issued a combined license (COL) for an economic simplified boiling water reactor (ESBWR) reactor design—designated Unit 3—at the site. But a third reactor at North Anna has yet to happen. In fact, Dominion issued a request for proposals in 2024 to study the feasibility of small modular reactors at the North Anna site.
According to the application, Dominion is seeking a renewal of the ESP in its entirety to possibly open up a licensing pathway for “potential future Dominion Energy Virginia reactor projects” that are alternatives to the ESBWR designs originally envisioned. This would require exemptions from 10 CFR Part 52 requirements that subsumed certain information from the ESP into the COL, as well as a deferment of the COL.
North Anna-1 and -2 are twin 973-MWe three-loop Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, which began commercial operations in 1978 and 1980, respectively. Unit 1’s operating license expires on April 1, 2058, and Unit 2’s expires on August 21, 2060.
