Keep the lights on? WRAL Investigates new nuclear power coming to N.C.

North Carolina is home to five nuclear power plants — there are two near Charlotte in the western part of the state, two near Wilmington in the southeastern part of the state, and the newest plant, Shearon Harris nuclear plant in New Hill in southwest Wake County, went online in 1987. Since then, North Carolina’s population has grown 70%.

Now, the state’s number one power provider wants to add to its nuclear portfolio. However, WRAL found the future of nuclear has a much different look.

The Shearon Harris plant sits on 5,400 acres near Cary and Apex. The cooling tower, which looks more like a smoke stack, is visible for miles. Duke Energy has plans to add two nuclear power plants that provide about a third of the energy as Shearon Harris, but need about 1/10th of the land.

To Duke’s power customers, that means more reliable, cleaner energy, less nuclear waste and more flexibility to provide power in the fastest growing parts of the state.

"We’re very excited about its potential," says Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks about advanced nuclear energy. Instead of one massive reactor, the latest breakthrough is small modular reactors — or SMRs.

"They use a lot of off-the-shelf and modular components," explains Brooks about the SMRs. While existing nuclear plants are essentially built from the ground up on site, the reactors in these new plants are built off-site and transported to the site.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently approved a modular reactor designed by NuScale, which could meet energy needs and help power companies reduce their dependence on environmentally-unfriendly coal power plants.

What’s cool is the SMRs are extremely flexible. "You can deploy them in a 4 pack, a 6 pack; it very much depends on how much power you need,"says Steve Chengelis, with the Electric Power Research Institute, or EPRI.

"More and more companies are starting to put this into their integrated resource plan or master plan as part of their goal to hit their carbon-free future," says Chengelis.

EPRI hopes to find solutions now to obstacles to make the roll out of advanced nuclear a smooth process. "There’s a lot of work to do to make sure that we can successfully deploy these on time and on budget," he says.

Duke Energy’s Brooks says advanced nuclear is a great way to keep the lights on as North Carolina continues to grow. "We’re going to see more need for energy in our future. Nuclear has a proven track record for being a great part of that mix, and we want to see it as part of that mix going forward in the future," he said.

Brooks says Duke could put its first SMR online by 2035, north of Winston-Salem at the site of an existing, but retiring, coal plant.

"We’re encouraged to put generation at sites of existing power plants, and that helps preserve jobs in those communities, preserve generation in those community," Brooks says.

The site of a second planned advanced nuclear plant hasn’t been chosen yet. But as Duke Energy tries to reduce its carbon footprint, Brooks says now is the time to look toward the future.

"We are in a time period of building," he said. "We are in a period where we need to have infrastructure those growing energy needs that we’re seeing all across the state."

According to Brooks, advanced nuclear has advantages people demand. He said, "It brings a lot of benefits to customers. It brings the ability to be reliable and affordable.

Brooks tells WRAL that Duke Energy will do all it can to avoid electric bill shocks when the new plants are built.

"We have a process that we can present some of these in a way that helps to avoid sharp spikes in rates," Brooks says.

Advancement in any industry comes with a price. How much new nuclear plants will cost consumers will be negotiated between Duke Energy and the North Carolina Utilities Commission in the years to come.

Unlike older nuclear projects, the new ones have technologies that reduce the risk of radiation leak, a worry that has seen residents resist development over the years.

The new plants are designed to detect and fix issues before something happens, without the need for human intervention.

They also don’t create as much nuclear waste as standard plants, because they can use up a higher percentage of uranium in each reactor.

Right now, Shearon Harris is one of the nation’s largest holders of spent nuclear fuel.