Dominion Energy Virginia has formally submitted a request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 20-year renewal of the early site permit at the North Anna nuclear power plant. The current permit is set to run out on November 27, 2027. The application was received by the NRC on July 28.
The ESP allows companies to secure regulatory approval for reactor sites years before construction begins. Dominion was granted the permit in 2007 with plans to build two additional reactors, but those did not move forward. Instead, the company recently began studying small modular reactor options.
The renewed permit could allow for licensing of new reactor projects. However, it requires exemptions to existing NRC rules, which tie certain site data to a specific reactor design. This shift would defer final reactor licensing until later in the process.
North Anna-1 and North Anna-2 are twin reactors that began operations in the late 1970s and will run until the late 2050s and early 2060s, respectively. Their licenses are not at issue here, but the site's future beyond that remains uncertain.