PPL's Bell Bend Plant Could Boost Pennsylvania's Total Nuclear Generation Capacity to More Than 11,000 Megawatts

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Pennsylvania has nine operational nuclear generating units with more than 9,500 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. Pennsylvania is second largest state for nuclear power following Illinois, which has 11 operational generating units that produce a total of 11,379 MW. PPL Nuclear Development LLC, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) (Allentown, Pennsylvania), has submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a combined construction and operating license to build the Bell Bend nuclear plant. The application was prepared with UniStar Nuclear Energy, a joint venture of Constellation Energy Group Incorporated (NYSE:CEG) (Baltimore, Maryland) and Electricite de France SA (EPA:EDF) (Paris).

This is the 17th application for a new nuclear unit that has been submitted since 2003. The Bell Bend nuclear power station will be located next to the 2,360-MW Susquehanna nuclear power plant near Berwick, Pennsylvania, in Luzerne County. The Susquehanna station utilizes two Westinghouse boiling water reactors that came online in 1983 and 1985. The new plant will use Areva's (EPA:CEI) (Paris) Generation III+ Evolutionary Pressurized Water Reactor with a 1,600-MW steam turbine/generator set.

PPL Nuclear Development President Victor Lopiano said in a statement that the company won't make a final decision for several years on whether to move forward with the Bell Bend plant. According to the statement, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to take three to four years to review PPL's application.

View Plant Profile - 1080592
View Project Report - 12004306

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.