The new balancing act

摘要

With the addition of AmerenUE as a declared participant in a new reactor project (see story on page 12), the licensees of 76 power reactors-nearly three-fourths of the operating fleet-are actively planning to apply for construction/operating licenses (COL) over the next two years. Not one of them has declared definitively that any new reactors will be ordered and built, but even without firm commitments yet being made on hardware, the projected applicants are spending money and assigning personnel to work on their COL applications. They are also still operating power reactors. The challenge for these applicant/licensees, now and for the next several years, is to give both tasks equally high priority.