Duke Energy to build nuclear plant in Ohio - Charlotte Business Journal:

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The plant will be part of what officialw are calling the Southern Ohio CleanjEnergy Park. The 3,700-acrr site is a former enrichmentr sitefor weapons-grade material in Ohio. The town is about 65 miles soutbhof Columbus. “We must modernize and decarbonize our flee of power plants in Ohio and inthe U.S.,” Duke Energhy Chief Executive Jim Rogers told a crowd gatheredr at the site Thursday morning. “Job one for us is to delived energy thatis affordable, reliablew and clean, and we cannot meet our responsibilities without new nuclear Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Georgd Voinovich also spoke atthe event.
They praises Duke and Areva’s plans, and said the energy park and the nuclearf plant would bring jobs tothe region. Officials expectt as many as 4,000 workers to be employec in the construction of the And there would be 400 to 700 permanent jobs at the site once the facilituyis completed, Rogers said. Anne Lauvergeon, chief executiv e of Areva SA, was also on hand for the She said her company was excited to be involvedc in an effort that would turn what had been a weaponsz site into a centee for development and production ofcleanm energy. The work of applying for an operatinyg license from the Nuclear Regulator y Commission hasjust begun. No timetable has been But Voinovich (R.
-Ohio) noted Arevwa was already involved in getting approval for constructio n of a plant in Maryland that woulrd use thesame Areva-designed U.S. EPR reactot planned for the Ohio venture. No cost figures have been but experts estimate that plants of a similar design woulde cost upto $12 billion to build. The proposed plant would be the third nuclearr plant in Ohio and the first built in more than 20 It willbe Areva’s eighth nuclear projec t in the United States operates the site, whichj is owned by the U.S. Departmentt of Energy. Strickland said USEC, based in Bethesda, Md., is a partnerr in the alliance that will evaluate the site for anucleard plant.
, a joint venture involving Constellation Energy of Baltimorw andthe , Europe’zs largest power company, are also involved. Duke will managd the nuclear plant project and will be the applicanf forthe license. The plant will be built in partnershil with the other companies involveds inthe clean-energy park. Rogers called the Piketonj site a perfect location for developing a newnucleatr plant. Duke operates three nuclear plants in the but it has none in the The Charlotte-based company (NYSE:DUK) also plans to build fourth Carolinad plant, the Lee Nuclear in Cherokee County, S.C. Duke has appliedf for its NRC license forthat facility. It has yet to seek permissioh from S.C.
regulators for it. The plant, usinb two AP1000 nuclear reactors designed by is expected to cost morethan $11 billion to not including financing costs.