Progress signs contract for Florida reactors

Progress Energy said this morning it signed a $7.65 billion contract for two planned nuclear reactors in Florida.

The contract covers nuclear engineering, procurement and construction by Westinghouse Electric and The Shaw Group. Each reactor will have a generating capacity of 1,100 megawatts, generating about 22 percent more power than the 900-megawatt Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County.

The Florida reactors are expected to start operating between 2016 and 2018.

The contract covers only a portion of the total coast of the nuclear project in Florida. Raleigh-based Progress expects to pay at least $17 billion for all costs associated with the two reactors and new transmission lines.The contract announced today does not include nuclear fuel, land acquisition, license preparation, regulatory review, financing and likely cost increases.

Under a ruling last fall by the Florida Public Service Commission, Progress customers in Florida will begin paying extra in their rates this month to cover the cost of the nuclear plants. Cost increases will vary year by year, but Progress had said that Florida customers would pay as much as $25 a month extra for the nuclear expansion in that state.

Recovering nuclear costs now rather than later will save Florida customers about $13 billion on loan interest and other expenses, Progress said.

The two units, when completed, will employ at least 800 full-time workers. Nuclear plants typically require about a decade of planning and construction.

Progress has not yet requested a rate increase in North Carolina or South Carolina for planned new reactors at the Shearon Harris site. The two proposed reactors are expected to cost at least $9.3 billion.