Exelon and Holtec international are expected within a matter of days to submit their application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for transfer of the license for the soon-to-close Oyster Creek Generating Station in New Jersey.
Oyster Creek is one of three nuclear power plants Holtec plans to buy once they have ceased operations. Last week, the Camden. N.J., energy technology company indicated the two corporations planned to submit the application by last Friday.
An NRC spokesman said Monday the federal agency expects the application in the next few days.
Oyster Creek is due to end operations in mid-September. Chicago-based power company Exelon wants to sell the single-reactor facility in Lacey Township to Holtec, which would then be responsible for decommissioning and spent fuel management at the property.
They hope to obtain NRC approval for the license transfer by May 2019. The sale would then be sealed by the following month, Holtec and Exelon managers told NRC staffers during an Aug. 15 briefing. Agency officials were noncommittal on how fast the NRC could process the application.
Holtec subsidiary Holtec Decommissioning International would become the licensed operator of Oyster Creek. Another subsidiary, Oyster Creek Environmental Protection LLC, would become the licensed owner. Holtec plans to hire Comprehensive Decommissioning International to manage decommissioning and spent fuel storage. CDI is a new joint venture by Holtec and the Montreal-based engineering and construction company SNC-Lavalin.
Holtec plans to move up the planned completion of decommissioning from 2077 to 2027. Full off-site transfer of the plant’s used fuel would move up from 2024 under the original Exelon plan to 2021 under Holtec, according to a briefing document presented to the NRC. However, that would be dependent on establishment of a location for either interim storage or permanent disposal of U.S. reactor fuel.
In future years, Holtec aims to buy two additional plants from Entergy: Pilgrim in Massachusetts and Palisades in Michigan.
