A team led by Holtec International plans to submit its federal license application to build an underground consolidated interim spent fuel storage facility in southeast New Mexico by June, according to one senior executive.
Holtec has teamed with the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance to build and operate the underground facility about 12 miles from the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. In an interview with RadWaste Monitor this week, Holtec International Senior Vice President Pierre Paul Oneid said the facility will have the capacity to store lifetime waste from all operating nuclear units that exist in America today.
He also discussed the company’s HI-STORM UMAX technology, which would be key in the project. UMAX is an underground vertical ventilated module, dry-storage system the company says is compatible with all certified multipurpose canisters under USNRC CoC 72-1014 and CoC 72-1032.
The New Mexico House and Senate in February approved nonbinding “memorials” in support of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance developing the New Mexico interim storage site. Waste Control Specialists, in West Texas, also plans to submit its own license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The company expects to deliver the paperwork by May 1.
During the conversation, Oneid discussed the status of his company’s project, the legislative outlook, and the future of interim storage.
From your perspective, how can interim storage fit into the solution for America’s nuclear waste problem?
It certainly fits like a glove. It will be the first time our Department of Energy will have met its commitment, if you will, which is long overdue. 1998 [when DOE was required to take custody of spent commercial nuclear fuel] was the first missed commitment, then there was 2010, then there was 2017, and now certainly the discussion is hovering around 2048, potentially 2052, at best-case scenario. There’s a pilot program being talked about for 2021, and if you read the tea leaves, that’s nowhere to be found, if you will, in terms of the near future. Every day that passes by makes that date unobtainable. So we believe the central interim storage, and what we’re doing with the Eddy-Lea Alliance, absolutely can be done within that time frame. We believe it fits that strategy beautifully. That’s one point. The other point is that we believe central interim storage can save the taxpayer billions of dollars. Billions of dollars can be paid by implementing the central interim storage concept.
How far along is Team Holtec’s application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission?
We have a June date that we have informed the NRC that we will meet in terms of our licensing approach. We have a two-part approach to licensing. One is to amend the HI-STORM UMAX certificate, that’s 72-1040. That one is to add additional canisters, including NUHOMS canisters deployed at (the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station), and canisters from specific shutdown, decommissioned plants, and then at a later date update the general license for all canisters projected to store spent nuclear fuel in the United States. The second part of our approach is to license the HI-STORE. We have named the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance site as HI-STORE under a 10 CFR [Part] 72 site-specific license. The initial application will request 500 canisters that would be priority waste, future amendments for additional canisters up to 4,000, and then reference in that licensing, the HI-STORE under Part 72. We’ve already had pre-application proceedings with the NRC. We sent our initial letter and then a follow-up to the letter, a pre-submittal letter, and then following up on the pre-submittal letter we met face to face with the NRC, and it was a very positive meeting.
The NRC has budgeted for Waste Control Specialists [for fiscal 2017], but with Holtec, they said they can make room as far as license review. Through speaking with NRC, does it seem like they are prepared for you?
We believe they are. I would venture to say we are in constant communication, continuous dialogue, in terms of all of our activities, including this particular activity.
If everything goes as planned, when do you hope to begin accepting waste? Obviously there are variables as far as legislation goes. What’s your confidence?
April 1, 2020. (Our confidence is) high. We’re certainly going to be realistic. Our confidence is high, pending that the stakeholders are helping the situation. The stakeholders most notably, the DOE and Congress. Our confidence is very high. We believe very much that we can deliver, pending support from the DOE and congressional support. If we don’t get that support, at the end of the day, that’s who’s going to own, if you will, the fuel – the Department of Energy. What we’re focusing on is to frankly present that solution on a platter of gold.
How much waste would the site take?
The initial deployment is for 500 (casks), followed by 4,000 casks. But in terms of the capacity, the Eddy-Lea site in southeast New Mexico is 1,000 acres. In terms of total capacity, certainly enough to host the entire used fuel in the United States for the entire length of the operating units, the end of life of each operating units that exist today in the U.S.
Does the site offer anything unique compared to what’s being offered in Texas through Waste Control Specialists?
The most unique aspect of our offer is that we offer a universal, underground system that can host any technology in the U.S. That’s very unique to our site, to Holtec International. It’s called the UMAX, universal maximum. It’s a proven technology, having been previously used in Humboldt Bay in Northern California and also at the Callaway nuclear plant in Missouri in 2015. And there’s a deployment going on at SONGS in Southern California that is imminent. That same system is the centerpiece being used for our HI-STORE at the Eddy-Lea site. Again, it’s unique to us. It’s one system that will fit all. That way DOE doesn’t have to be at two different places or three different central interim storages. It could be at one place. Another unique aspect to our site – we’re only 12 miles away from WIPP, and WIPP has been successful, even though unfortunately there’s been an incident that now we understand the discussion is centering around re-opening the site in the near future. Being 12 miles away from where the community understands the nuclear risks, and frankly has been extremely supportive of nuclear energy. And we also have the state being supportive, and especially the local community.
What do the New Mexico state legislature’s recent memorials mean to the project?
We’re seeing a lot of positive signs from the local community, whether it’s the Eddy County or the Lea County and basically this has taken the normal process of gaining consent and certainly we completely subscribe to the consent process, and we will support it in every aspect, of education and being able to meet with the local community. We will be intensifying our meetings and be able to educate the local community and the state in terms of the robust safety of dry storage and especially our UMAX system.
Moving forward, what other major milestones do you guys have?
There’s the submittal, which is in June 2016. There’s (an NRC) safety evaluation report milestone that we believe we should have in October 2018. We believe a license will be issued in January of 2019. Construction phase 1 will begin in April 2019, and we should begin operations by April 2020.
Anything else to add in general?
We just hope that the entire industry rallies up, whether utilities, AEs, vendors, that our entire industry will rally behind the consolidated interim storage. We believe that it is the right answer to store high-level waste in the interim before it goes to a permanent repository, whether that is Yucca or anywhere else. We also hope that we get strong support from the Department of Energy and strong support from Congress. I think the country is overdue in terms of saving billions of dollars if we go down that route.
