Chair Christopher Hanson toured facilities new and old in the Cape Fear Region, first with the GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy facility in Wilmington, then with a tour of Duke Energy's Brunswick County nuclear power plant, which began operations in the 1970s.
The Brunswick plant has kept up on new regulations and the latest technologies, including safety features that were implemented across the industry following the Fukushima Nuclear Accident in 2011.
"There was really a set of requirements that were put in place to create some additional redundancy around power supply," Hanson said. "You remember the accident in Japan was, was caused by a tsunami that flooded the site and kind of swamped those backup power supplies.”
That loss of power is what led to the meltdown. In response, the industry has added backups on backups.
At the Brunswick plant, for example, there are now three sets of backup generators: one in concrete buildings, and one on stilts, plus a set of diesel generators that can be moved around on site, and plans to pull in additional backups from out of state if all those systems fail or are lost.
While the Brunswick plant is aging, Hanson says the commission carefully monitors plants across the country to make sure they remain in good working condition despite age.
"Not only has the NRC licensed plants from the 40 to 60 year period, but we're also in the process of of evaluating and licensing plants for the 60 to 80 year period," he said.
Brunswick Nuclear Plant Communications Manager Karen Williams says the Brunswick Plant is seeking approval to operate into the 2050s, which would put the plant at 75 years of operation.
"There's really very little things that are on site that are actually 50 years old, most everything has been modified and upgraded," she said. "The main exception to that is the pressure vessel itself."
As for the future of nuclear power in the U.S., Hanson says congress put $6 billion into supporting the nuclear industry as part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — he called it an insurance fund for reactors.
There are six nuclear plants in the Carolinas, with three in North Carolina. Under Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan, more may come online in coming decades as part of the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article inaccurately said there were six nuclear sites in North Carolina. There are actually six in North and South Carolina, with half in North Carolina.
