While a decision has not yet been made about whether the second largest owner and operator of nuclear power in the country will build a second nuclear reactor at the Grand Gulf nuclear site, the company is improving the process to keep the option open, said Haley Fisackerly, vice president of governmental affairs for Entergy Nuclear.

“We want to bring a nuclear Renaissance,” he told members of the Vicksburg Rotary Club Thursday.

The company announced March 27 that an early site permit at Grand Gulf had been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the NuStart energy consortium. The permit was issued April 5, which means the second reactor at Grand Gulf could be operational by 2017.

Part of the improved plan is pairing with other nuclear sites, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bellafonte site in Alabama, which is part of NuStart, to submit a combined operation license, which allows the construction and operating licenses to be filed at the same time. Fisackerly said Bellafonte will apply for the license in November — before Entergy Nuclear.

“It’s the idea of the second mouse gets the cheese,” he said. “We can learn from the first license.”

In addition to Grand Gulf, Entergy Nuclear’s River Bend site in Louisiana is a potential site for an additional reactor. GE-designed reactor components have been preordered by Entergy Nuclear. The Grand Gulf Nuclear Station has a 1,266-megawatt boiling water reactor on its 2,100-acre site off U.S. 61 that became operational in 1985. The River Bend Station in St. Francisville, northwest of Baton Rouge, has a 978-megawatt boiling water reactor that began commercial operation in 1986.

Fisackerly told the group that Entergy Nuclear’s project development agreement signed July 27 with GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy includes a major, advanced reactor components order. The order ensures GEH and Entergy will be able to build an Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor project on schedule if Entergy formally decides to build a new unit. a decision expected in about five years. Fisackerly said the ordered components could be used at either site.

While he praised Port Gibson’s nuclear site as being “one of the best nuclear operation plants in the United States,” he said the company had to look at all of its options. “It’s one of the Top 3 producing power plants in the country,” he said. “But, we can’t just bet on that shop. We need another option.”

Grand Gulf is owned by System Energy Resources Inc., and South Mississippi Power Association. It is one of 12 nuclear power-generating units at 10 plants operated by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. The first reactor took 11 years to build and cost $3.4 billion, even though it was supposed to cost just under $1 billion, Fisackerly said.

If the company decides to go ahead with a second reactor, plans are to have fewer delays, a more efficient “modular” design and a cost of about $4 billion.

“We have learned from the past,” Fisackerly said. “We have more advanced technology, and we’re going to do it right this time.”