The Nuclear Company, a startup project developer, is eyeing Lewis County, Ky. as its site for a planned 6,600-megawatt power plant that would use six of Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactors.
The Prosperity One Nuclear Campus would have up to six AP1000 reactors, with the initial phase of it beginning with two units, The Nuclear Company said in a Wednesday press release. If fully constructed, the company said it will become one of the largest nuclear generating plants in the world.
According to the release, The Nuclear Company already has the rights to an unidentified area in Lewis County in eastern Kentucky along the Ohio River and pending regulatory approvals, could start construction at the site by 2028.
For the initial site work, The Nuclear Company will work on site characterization, geotechnical and environmental assessments as well as planning for power line interconnection and planning for federal nuclear licensing, according to the release.
Lewis County is among Kentucky’s first counties to request designation as a nuclear energy host community under the Kentucky Nuclear Energy Development Authority, The Nuclear Company said. County officials began their effort to host a nuclear energy development in July and have since held public meetings and submitted its filing to the Kentucky state agency.
“For generations, communities along the Ohio River have formed America’s industrial backbone,” Joe Klecha, chief nuclear officer for The Nuclear Company, said in the release. “We are proud to partner with the community to apply our team’s collective experience to deliver lasting jobs, a stronger tax base, and reliable power for Kentucky.”
With the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently approving the renewal of the AP1000 reactor design certification, The Nuclear Company seeks to advance through a more streamlined path for approval for the reactor deployment. The AP1000, a pressurized water Generation III+ reactor technology, is already operating in the United States as Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia.
