The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has signed off on the transfer of the license for the retired Crystal River nuclear power plant in Florida, a key step toward its planned decommissioning within seven years.
The reactor license now passes from property owner Duke Energy to decommissioning contractor ADP CR3 – a subsidiary of Accelerated Decommissioning Partners LLC, which is itself a joint venture of the U.S. branch of French nuclear company Orano and environmental solutions specialist NorthStar Group Services.
The companies are still waiting on approval from the Florida Public Service Commission for Duke’s contract with ADP. The review is “ongoing,” but there is no known schedule for a decision, a Duke spokesperson said Wednesday.
Accelerated Decommissioning Partners was formed in 2017. Its owners are aiming for a slice of the pie in an increasingly popular business model for decommissioning nuclear power plants – buying the property outright from the owner-operator, assuming responsibility for all cleanup and spent fuel management, and ownership of the trust fund that pays for the work.
The Crystal River job, in Citrus County, is ADP’s first contract, but it does not follow the planned business model. Instead, it is being paid $540 million under contract while Duke Energy retains ownership of the facility and property, as well as the decommissioning trust that held more than $700 million as of 2019. The acquisition model did not work in this case as Crystal River stands on a 5,100-acre energy production complex owned by Duke, which also wanted to keep the decommissioning trust.
Decommissioning is scheduled to begin this year and to be completed by 2027, after which radioactivity levels must be reduced to the point at which the NRC license can be terminated and the property opened for other use.
NorthStar will also take down two Duke coal-fueled power units at Crystal River.
