Fourth reactor plans go to NRC

The application for the Nine Mile 3 reactor is on track and will be filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission soon, said Maureen Brown, spokeswoman for the project's developer, Unistar.

Submitting the application, however, does not commit Unistar to the project.

The NRC's review could take years. Unistar, a partnership that includes Nine Mile Nuclear Station owner Constellation Energy and the French company Areva, also is considering building plants at three other sites: Calvert Cliffs, Md., Berwick, Pa., and Callaway County, Mo.

The company has yet to decide how many nuclear plants it will build. Each would cost $6 billion.

Work on the Nine Mile 3 application began in 2007.

If it is built, the plant would be the fourth nuclear power plant at Nine Mile Point in Scriba. In addition to the two Nine Mile reactors at the nuclear station, Nine Mile Point is also the location of the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plant.