The company in charge of decommissioning Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station submitted a proposal to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requesting an amendment to fuel storage safety guidelines that would allow them to complete transferring spent fuel to dry storage by November, according to a filing published this week.
Nuclear services provider Holtec International, which is in the process of moving spent fuel to dry storage from wet storage at Oyster Creek, asked the commission on Jan. 29 for approval to amend the existing security plan to reflect a “future site configuration” in which all spent fuel currently located in a spent fuel pool has been successfully moved to dry storage, the filing said.
The existing security plan provides guidelines for both wet and dry storage locations, Holtec said. Their proposed amendment eliminates language associated with the plant’s spent fuel pools, since they expect to have all spent fuel transferred to dry storage this year. The company has said it plans to finish moving spent fuel to the onsite independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) from Oyster Creek’s spent fuel pool by November.
Holtec purchased the Oyster Creek plant from Exelon Corporation in 2019 for decommissioning. Exelon had already notified the NRC in 2018 that all of the plant’s spent fuel was safely in the spent fuel pool, Monday’s filing said.
Contractors responsible for decommissioning nuclear plants are required by law to have a security plan for the safe transfer and storage of spent fuel that protects the highly radioactive waste from sabotage or accidents.
If the transfer of spent fuel to the ISFSI is completed as scheduled, it will mark another step towards the Oyster Creek plant’s complete decommissioning. Holtec cleared its most recent hurdle in July, when it resolved a legal dispute with Lacey Township, N.J., where the plant is located.
Holtec has previously estimated that the decommissioning of Oyster Creek will be done by 2025.
