The application filed with the commission is for a combined operating license (COL) for the North Anna Unit Three. The company has not committed to build the new unit, but wants to maintain the option to do so to meet projected skyrocketing demand for electricity in Virginia in the next decade.
The company has partnered with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Bechtel on the 1,520MW project, which would generate enough electricity for 375,000 homes at peak demand in Virginia, Dominion said.
Dominion has a co-operative agreement with the US Department of Energy to equally share the cost of the COL. The company expects it to cost about $500 million to complete all of the necessary work to be able to build the unit. The maximum expense to the company would be $60 million.
Partners are expected to provide the balance. If the company decides to build a new unit, the earliest it could begin commercial operation would be 2015.
