Florida’s Public Service Commission (PSC) on Aug. 18 provided the last regulatory approval needed for expedited decommissioning of the retired Crystal River nuclear power plant.
Following a 14-month review by the PSC, the five-member panel discussed the matter for less than six minutes during a meeting. It then unanimously approved the staff recommendation in favor of a transaction in which plant owner will hand off management of decommissioning to a specialist contractor.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based power company aims in October to seal a $540 million fixed-price contract with Accelerated Decommissioning Partners for full cleanup by 2027 of Crystal River Unit 3 (CR3).
“The process of selecting a CR3 decommissioning contractor was reasonable. The fixed-price contract is also reasonable as it contains customer protections designed to maintain the ongoing viability of the Duke nuclear decommissioning trust fund that is projected to fully fund the decommissioning and license termination costs,” Mark Futrell, a PSC deputy executive director, said in a brief presentation to the commission ahead of the vote. “There are benefits to proceeding with an accelerated decommissioning time schedule, including the mitigation of long-term environmental risk, regulatory and financial risks.”
Built in Citrus County along Florida’s west coast, Crystal River provided power from 1977 to 2009. The facility was shut down permanently in 2013 due to damage to its containment building.
Duke had placed the reactor in “safe storage,” or SAFSTOR, mode, with decommissioning planned for completion in 2074. But it changed course in May 2019, announcing plans to pay Accelerated Decommissioning Partners to do the work much earlier.
Accelerated Decommissioning Partners is a joint venture of demolition specialist NorthStar Group Services and Orano USA, the domestic branch of French nuclear company Orano. Decommissioning will be carried out by subsidiary ADP CR3.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in spring approved the transfer of the reactor license from Duke to ADP, which was necessary for the planned job. Duke will remain the owner of the reactor facility, but will transfer ownership of the plant’s used-fuel pad to ADP CR3.
The entire project will be paid from the plant’s decommissioning trust fund, which Futrell said at last count held about $654 million.
“During the next six weeks, we will focus on pre-closure work, such as finalizing organizational structures and processes, such as working inside a radiation-controlled area; transaction-closure readiness, including supporting Accelerated Decommissioning Partners’ preparation to become the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensee; and return-to-the-workplace plans related to the pandemic,” Duke spokeswoman Heather Danenhower said by email.
The initial work this year will focus on planning and engineering for decommissioning, with removal of the reactor vessel, steam generators, and other radioactive and nonradioactive components scheduled for 2021 to 2026. Demolition of all structures, minus the spent-fuel storage pad, is planned for 2026 to 2027.
Citing security precautions, Duke has not said how much used fuel will be held on the storage installation. The material would remain there until some form of off-site storage or disposal operation is available.
The Public Service Commission did not require the contract to be revised to incorporate a number of changes recommended by the Florida Office of Public Counsel. Those measures had included requiring Accelerated Decommissioning Partners’ parent companies to establish a $105 million reserve in case of cost overruns on the project and to submit monthly reports on its financial status and the progress of work.
The Office of Public Counsel is dedicated to supporting the interests of the ratepayers for the state’s utilities.
“We’re disappointed. We thought [the recommendations] were rather innocuous,” OPC attorney Charles Rehwinkel, who argued the office’s case to the commission in July, said by telephone last week. “We didn’t agree that they would delay or add cost to the project.”
The state agency could appeal the decision to the Florida Supreme Court, Rehwinkel said. No decision has been made, and would have to be weighed against the likelihood that the one- to two-year appeal process would undo the contract that offers the benefit of expedited decommissioning, he added.
Duke’s position has been that the contract as it stands already incorporates multiple layers of financial protections for its customers, Danenhower stated. Those included a parent-company guarantee and additional insurance. The deal also does not raise customer bills.
“The fixed-price contract … also provides greater cost certainty and transfers risks to Accelerated Decommissioning Partners, protecting Duke Energy customers in Florida,” according to Danenhower. “Last, Duke Energy retains ownership and control of the nuclear decommissioning trust fund that pays for the decommissioning. Duke Energy will continue to have open access to the plant property for inspections and audits and pay Accelerated Decommissioning Partners only for work completed.”
