Regulators approve 20-year extension of nuclear plant licenses

Published 4:47 am Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Federal regulators have approved a request from Dominion Energy to extend the operating licenses for its nuclear power station in southeast Virginia by 20 years.

The licenses for the units at Surry Power Station, which had been valid through 2032 and 2033, will now expire in 2052 and 2053, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a news release Tuesday.

The company said in a statement that extending Surry’s operations is critical to meeting the zero-carbon requirements of a sweeping clean energy bill lawmakers passed last year.

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Richmond-based Dominion filed a similar application with the commission to renew the licenses of the two North Anna Power Station units in Louisa County last year. That application is under review.

Combined, Surry and North Anna produce almost one third of the electricity for the company’s approximately 2.7 million customers in Virginia and North Carolina, the company said in a news release.

Dominion said it expects to file for recovery of expenditures associated with this license extension with state regulators later this year. It did not provide an estimate of those costs.

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