Duke Energy has asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to rule by the end of this year on its application to transfer licenses for its shuttered Crystal River nuclear power plant to another company for decommissioning.
Duke filed the license transfer application on June 14, about two weeks after it announced it had hired Accelerated Decommissioning Partners (ADP) to manage cleanup at the Citrus County facility. With regulatory approval, ADP would become the licensed operator for the reactor facility and the owner of its spent fuel storage pad.
“The Applicants respectfully request that the NRC review and complete action expeditiously on the enclosed Application and consent to the proposed transfers,” attorneys for Duke and ADP wrote in a letter attached to the application. “Applicants request that the NRC issue an Order by December 31, 2019 approving the amendments to the Facility License and authorizing the transfers to take place at any time through December 31, 2020.”
On Tuesday, the NRC said it would aim to meet Duke’s schedule, but that would depend on the quality of the original application and the responses to follow-up requests for information from agency staff.
The regulator expects to complete its acceptance review of the license transfer application by late this month or early August, spokesman David McIntyre said by email. That would be followed by a full technical review addressing environmental, safety, and security aspects of the transfer.
Crystal River operated from 1977 to 2009. Duke permanently retired the pressurized-water reactor in 2013 rather than repairing its damaged containment building. It placed the reactor into safe-storage mode, expecting to hold off on completing full decommissioning until 2074. But, after several years of consideration, the Charlotte, N.C.-based power company in May hired ADP to carry out expedited decontamination, disassembly, and demolition of the plant by 2027. At that point, only the site’s spent fuel storage pad should remain.
Accelerated Decommissioning Partners has a $540 million fixed-price contract for this work, which does not cover its planned ownership of Crystal River’s independent spent fuel storage installation. The contract will be paid from Duke’s decommissioning trust for Crystal River, which was valued at $717 million earlier this year.
As the nuclear plant is just one component of a larger energy production complex, Duke chose not to sell it off to ADP.
“Under the terms of the agreement, the license will not transfer back to Duke Energy. [Accelerated Decommissioning Partners subsidiary] ADP CR3 will remain the licensee until all fuel is removed from the site and the ISFSI and associated equipment is decommissioned,” Duke Energy spokeswoman Ana Gibbs said by email Wednesday. “At that time, ADP CR3 will be responsible for obtaining all required NRC approvals to terminate the 10 CFR Part 50 license for the site. Duke Energy Florida will continue to remain on the license as the owner of the qualified Nuclear Decommissioning Trust and owner of the property throughout the decommissioning until final license termination.”
Accelerated Decommissioning Partners is a partnership of environmental services specialist NorthStar Group Services and the U.S. branch of French nuclear firm Orano, with a 75%-25% ownership share. This is its first win for a nuclear decommissioning project, though NorthStar on its own in January sealed the acquisition of the retired Vermont Yankee facility for the same purpose.
The joint venture’s ADP CR3 subsidiary will handle decommissioning operations at Crystal River. An affiliate of that subsidiary, ADP SF1, will acquire the spent fuel storage pad, according to the letter, along with title to the used fuel, high-level waste, and Greater-Than-Class C Waste at the site.
All of Crystal River’s spent fuel was transferred to dry storage as of January 2018, though Duke has not specified the number of used fuel assemblies. It is held in 39 concrete horizontal storage modules spread over one-and-a-half acres.
The Department of Energy is legally required to take all spent fuel from the nation’s nuclear power plants, though it is more than 21 years past the Jan. 31, 1998, deadline set by Congress to begin disposal. Until the federal agency meets that requirement, ADP would be responsible for managing Crystal River’s spent fuel, if the license transfer is approved.
The cost of decommissioning the storage pad is presently assessed at $3.7 million. ADP SF1 intends to establish a trust fund for that project, potentially starting with a $3.95 million deposit. With anticipated 2% growth, the account would be valued at $5.4 million when the storage pad is expected to be decommissioned in 2037, the June 14 letter says.
Duke Energy will provide financial assurance for decommissioning, as required by federal regulations. That will be compounded by $140 million in support agreements from NorthStar and Orano to ensure Accelerated Decommissioning Partners “is able to meet its financial and regulatory obligations to possess, maintain, and decommission” Crystal River on budget and within NRC directives, according to the letter.
