On 19 April, NRG announced that it would write down its investment in the development of the South Texas Project (STP) units 3 & 4. Moreover, NRG said that it will not invest additional funds in the STP development effort.
The prospects for two new ABWRs at the existing STP site look slim.
At the time of the announcement the future of the STP was already looking uncertain. One of its investors was to be Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima plants in Japan, and its participation was looking unlikely. Work on the project has been scaled back since March and is focused solely on securing a combined operating license (COL) and a loan guarantee.
“The tragic nuclear incident in Japan has introduced multiple uncertainties around new nuclear development in the United States which have had the effect of dramatically reducing the probability that STP 3&4 can be successfully developed in a timely fashion,” said David Crane, president and CEO of NRG.
NRG said that Toshiba American Nuclear Energy Corp. (TANE), its partner in the nuclear development joint venture Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA) would be responsible for funding ongoing costs to continue the licensing process. It said that NRG expects to incur one-time costs related to its contribution to NINA and that there are not expected to exceed $20 million.
NINA’s South Texas project was focused on developing two 1350 MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) at the existing South Texas site in partnership with San Antonio’s CPS Energy and the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company. NINA had aimed to receive COLs in 2012 with the units slated to come online in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
FilesTEPCO leak volume estimation methodology Revised nuclide analysis of Fukushima-Daiichi units 1-4 Fukushima-Daiichi parameters 20 April Reactor-by-reactor, system-by-system summary from JAIF as of 21 April
