CHARLOTTE – Duke Energy’s latest carbon-reduction plan calls for placing a modular “advanced nuclear” reactor on the site of the Belews Creek Steam Station, a partially coal-fired power plant that’s slated for retirement.
The proposal comes because the site has the land, infrastructure and workforce that Duke needs, and because Stokes County and the surrounding community “is reliant on [the] tax base” associated with the Belews Creek facility, Duke spokesman Bill Norton says.
“The current coal- and gas-fired plant is 17% of the Stokes County tax base, so the local community is very interested in replacement generation,” Norton says. “You combine all those factors, and it made for a very good match.”
Duke also reckons placing a reactor at “one other plant location to be determined” as it looks to retire its remaining coal plants, it said in announcing the filing of its latest proposed Carbon Plan Integrated Resource Plan.
For more details, read the full story at Business North Carolina.
