Dominion Virginia Power said today it has submitted the first part of an application for a loan guarantee to the U.S. Department of Energy as it considers a third nuclear reactor at the North Anna Power Station in Louisa County.

The company filed an application last November with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a third reactor site at the plant that would produce 1,520 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power roughly 375,000 homes.

Yesterday's filing is another step in a process to position the company to obtain a license for the reactor, said Mark F. McGettrick, president and chief executive officer of Dominion Generation.

If the loan application is selected, the federal government could guarantee all of the project's debt so long as it does not represent more than 80 percent of the project's qualified construction costs, the company said. Congress has appropriated $18.5 billion to support the nuclear loan guarantee program.