The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) is considering cutting decades off the time it planned to complete decommissioning of the shuttered Fort Calhoun Station nuclear power plant. Expediting the process could save more than $200 million and nearly 40 years of work, according to an analysis presented to the OPPD Board of Directors this week.
The Nebraska utility retired the pressurized water reactor in October 2016 and announced plans to place it into SAFSTOR (safe storage), a mode of decommissioning under which final environmental remediation can be delayed for up to 60 years while radiation levels drop and funding levels grow. The plan for Fort Calhoun called for a 40-year dormancy phase followed by preparations and active decommissioning that would conclude in 2066.
But in a presentation to the board Tuesday, Tim Uehling, director of decommissioning for Fort Calhoun Station, cited a list of potential benefits in going straight into deconstruction, including: an expedited reduction of financial liability, eliminating the hazard earlier, establishing cost and schedule flexibility, higher cost certainty, and reducing the need for rework.
That opportunity was made possible by expedited efforts by OPPD personnel, including asbestos abatement, disposal of 194 tons of radioactive waste, and NRC filings and approvals for decommissioning operations, Mary Fisher, OPPD vice president for energy production and nuclear decommissioning, told RadWaste Monitor.
Projections for putting Fort Calhoun into SAFSTOR cite $1.295 billion in costs through 2066: $882 million for license termination, the primary decommissioning operation; $365 million for spent fuel management; and $48 million for site restoration. The curent-year cost for decontamination and decommissioning finishing in 2028 is listed at $670 million, with the costs remaining the same for spent fuel management and site restoration for a total of $1.083 billion.
Accounting for inflation, the analysis says SAFSTOR would cost just over $3 billion and immediate decommissioning about $1.5 billion.
The savings are primarily based on reduced costs to maintain the plant, according to an OPPD press release.
“If we would move into deconstruction, the buildings would be razed and no longer in need of maintenance and upkeep, as they would be gone,” Fisher said by email. “These savings are a rough order of magnitude and require a more thorough investigation. We are merely asking the Board if they are willing to reconsider their decision based on the performance and progress to date by our employees.”
The analysis posits spent fuel costs based on removal of the radioactive waste by 2058. The Energy Department is already two decades past the Jan. 31, 1998, deadline set by Congress to begin removing spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactor sites. In May, OPPD announced it had issued a contract to the U.S. branch of French nuclear fuel-cycle company Orano for transfer of the remaining used fuel at Fort Calhoun from wet to dry storage on-site.
The Omaha Public Power District presently has $439 in its decommissioning funding trust. The utility said it plans no near-term changes in its funding plan, which it believes will cover a potential new decommissioning approach. “The district remains committed to no general rate increases through 2021 with either decommissioning strategy,” the release says.
The board will hear more at its Oct. 11 meeting about potential movement into immediate decommissioning before deciding to move ahead with that approach.
If OPPD does revise its plan for decommissioning Fort Calhoun it would provide the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission with an updated post-shutdown decommissioning activities report, which lays out the approach, schedule, and anticipated cost for the work. The NRC would not have to approve the new plan, a spokesman said Friday.
Staff is considering multiple approaches for decommissioning, including keeping the work in-house or contracting with another company to take over the plant and cleanup.
Orano has partnered with NorthStar Group Services in Accelerated Decommissioning Partners, which aims to buy retired nuclear plants for decommissioning. “Through our Accelerated Decommissioning Partners joint venture, we are in conversations with a number of nuclear energy facilities considering Prompt DECON after shutdown, but our customers make the announcements first before we follow with agreement details,” Orano spokesman Curtis Roberts said by email Friday.
The venture’s main rival for this business appears to be New Jersey-based energy technology firm Holtec International, which has already announced plans to acquire three soon-to-close power plants in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Michigan. Holtec would then partner with Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin to conduct decommissioning.
Joy Russell, Holtec’s vice president for corporate business development, said Thursday she was not specifically aware of the possible plan for Fort Calhoun but that “Holtec will continue to evaluate decommissioning opportunities.”
