The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced Thursday that it has completed a safety evaluation of the South Texas Project's (STP) two proposed nuclear reactor units.
The safety evaluation report was completed for the STP's application for combined licenses, which was submitted to the NRC in 2007. They plan to build two advanced boiling water reactors (ABWR) adjacent to the site's two operational reactors.
The Final Safety Evaluation Report and the Final Environmental Impact Statement will be issued by NRC staff during the mandatory hearing phase of the NRC's licensing process. During this hearing, which is expected to take place this year, the commission will determine if the staff's findings support the issuance of licenses and will also vote on whether to issue the STP operational licenses.
The ABWR design was approved by the NRC in 1997. The reactors are expected to have a generating capacity of approximately 1,300 megawatts each.
The NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards also reviewed safety aspects at the STP site and issued the results of this report on Feb. 19. It found that the units at the STP site could be built without risk to health and safety of the public and that the ABWR design and STP Units 3 and 4 would meet Fukushima Near-Term Task Force recommendations.
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