The Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant is a prospective nuclear power plant

Nuclear power plant

A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...

 , which may be built on the Bell Bend of the Susquehanna River

Susquehanna River

The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...

 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

- Demographics :As of the 2010 census, the county was 90.7% White, 3.4% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 3.3% were of some other race, and 1.5% were two or more races. 6.7% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino ancestry...

 near the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station

Susquehanna Steam Electric Station

The Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, a nuclear power station, is in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, just south of Shickshinny, in Salem Township, Pennsylvania, United States...

.

On October 10, 2008, PPL Bell Bend, LLC submitted a combined construction permit and operating license application (COLA) for the plant with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...

 (NRC) — in time for the potential plant to qualify for production tax credits under the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005

Energy Policy Act of 2005

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a bill passed by the United States Congress on July 29, 2005, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico...

.
NRC review of the 10,000-page COLA is expected to follow this schedule
Phase A - Requests for Additional Information (RAIs) Issued to Applicant already on 3/20/2011.

Phase B - Advanced Final Safety Evaluation Report (SER) without
Open Items by 3/2012

Phase C - ACRS Review of Advanced Final SER by 6/2012

Phase D - Final SER by 8/2012

The proposed nuclear power plant consists of one European Pressurized Reactor

European Pressurized Reactor

The EPR is a third generation pressurized water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome , Electricité de France in France, and Siemens AG in Germany...

 (EPR) steam electric system designed by the French company AREVA

Areva

AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...

. The rated core thermal power will be 4,590 MWt. The rated and design net electrical output is approximately 1,600 MWe

MWE

MWE may refer to:*Manufacturer's Weight Empty*McDermott Will & Emery*Midwest Express, an airline*Merowe Airport - IATA code*Multiword expressionMWe may refer to:*Megawatt electrical...

. Plants using this technology now are under construction in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.
The plant would be built by PPL and UniStar Nuclear Energy, a joint enterprise of Constellation Energy

Constellation Energy

Constellation Energy, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is an energy producer, trader, and distributor. The company operates over 35 power plants in 11 states under its operating company Constellation Commodities Group and/or Constellation Generation Group...

 and French energy giant EDF.

PPL spokesman Dan McCarthy said the plant would cost about $10 billion to develop, and seven to eight years to construct — beginning operation in 2016 or 2017.
A later estimate gives costs as $13–15 billion and an operational starting date of 2018-20.
PPL filed an initial application for federal loan guarantees by the September 29, 2008 deadline.
PPL intends to submit the second part of the application by the December 19 deadline.
PPL Chief Operating Officer William Spence said, "Without federal loan guarantees, companies like PPL will not be able to secure financing for the substantial cost of building new, advanced-design nuclear energy plants that will help this country achieve challenging limits on carbon dioxide emissions, as well as energy independence

Energy independence

The following articles relate to the topic of energy independence:* Energy resilience* Energy security* North American energy independence* Swedish Commission on Oil Independence* United States energy independence...

".

Reactor data

The Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant consist of one planned reactor.

Reactor unit	Reactor type	Capacity		Construction started	Electricity grid connection	Commercial operation	Shutdown
		Net	Gross
Bell Bend (planned)	US-EPR	1600 MW	MW