Dominion Generation operates the North Anna Generation Station (NAGS) which is located in Louisa County in eastern Virginia. NAGS is majority owned by Dominion Virginia Power Corporation and by the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative with a much smaller share. There are two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors at the station which together produce almost two gigawatts of power. The two reactors went online around 1980.
The owners of the NAGS are currently proceeding with the lengthy process of licensing and constructing a third reactor at the site. They applied to the NRC for an Early Site Permit in 2003 and received it in 2007. On the day that the ESP was issued, Dominion applied for a construction and operating permit for a 1.520 gigawatt GE-Hitachi Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) designated as North Anna 3.
In 2008, there was public backlash against Dominion over its plans to add an additional reactor at the NAGS. Six members of the Peoples Alliance For Clean Energy were arrested for trespass at the NAGS
Unfortunately, by 2009, Dominion was unable to reach an agreement with GE-Hitachi and they put out a request for bids from other vendors. In 2010, they settled on a 1.700 gigawatt Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' (MHI) Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (APWR) specifically designed for the U.S. market.
In late 2010, Dominion announced that it was going to wait until the expected permit came through in 2013 before making a final decision on a vendor. When the permit did arrive in 2013, Dominion announced that it was going to go ahead and build the original ESBWR from GE-Hitachi. This required the amendment of the application and a new approval from the NRC was expected in 2015.
In 2015, the Attorney General of Virginia said that the project should be abandoned because of the high cost that would be imposed on the consumers. The estimated price of the project had swelled to almost twenty billion dollars. This would make North Anna 3 the most expensive nuclear power reactor ever constructed in the U.S. It was estimated that it would increase the electric bills of the ratepayers by as much as twenty six percent.
Dominion claims that North Anna 3 would help with mandated climate change mitigation but critics point out that alternative sustainable energy sources could accomplish the same goals at a much lower cost.
A "Petition For A Declaratory Judgement" has just been filed by the non-profit Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (VCCC) against Dominion citing concerns about the actions of Dominion and the cost of the project. The petitioners claim that Dominion has violated state law because they failed to get approval for North Anna 3 from the Virginia State Corporation Commission before spending funds on planning and preliminary construction.
Critics of the project say that North Anna 3 is unnecessary, too costly and a safety threat for the area. In 2011, there was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake near the plant. The existing two reactors were subjected to twice the seismic stress that they had been designed for. Building another reactor near an active fault is just a bad idea.
North Anna Generation Station:
