Dive Summary:

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will issue a license for Duke Energy’s proposed Lee Nuclear Station in South Carolina in 2016, three years later than planned.
• The delay is due to NRC’s budget limitations which have curtailed its licensing activities, in addition to ground stability tests Duke needs in the aftermath of Japan’s 2011 Fukushima Dai-chi nuclear plant disaster.
• Announced in 2006, the two-unit plant will cost $11 billion and be built on a 4,000-acre site 50 miles southwest of Charlotte. Duke says the plant will be up and running by the mid-2020s.

From the article:

“Duke plans to use the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design, which is touted for its relative simplicity, safety and purportedly lower cost to build.”