Virginia regulators have approved Appalachian Power’s decision to spend money on site development and evaluation for a possible small modular reactor (SMR).
The Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Nov. 12 order approved the American Electric Power utility’s request to spend money on site development, which allows it to seek cost recovery at a later date, according to a Nov. 14 article by Cardinal News.
The utility submitted its petition to the Virginia State Corporation Commission on May 16.
Though Appalachian Power has not asked the regulators to start recovering site developmental costs, the utility said it plans to make that request in mid-2026, according to the article.
In the petition, Appalachian Power said it anticipates the site costs will total $122 million. This falls in line with state legislation that allows a utility to seek permission to charge customers for nuclear development costs. The law caps the amount that the utility can recover at $125 million overall over five years.
The law was enacted in April 2024 as utilities, such as Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy, expressed interest in constructing SMRs as a part of their respective long-range energy plans.
In November 2024, Appalachian Power announced plans to begin exploring advanced nuclear technologies, SMRs, and identified Campbell County as a potential site. If the utility goes down the pathway of SMRs, then the reactor could come online by the mid to late 2030s, according to the article.