All used nuclear fuel has been removed from the newly retired reactor at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey, according to a Sept. 25 letter from plant owner Exelon to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The short message, submitted by Exelon Generation Vice President for Licensing and Decommissioning Michael Gallagher, also provides official notice of the plant’s permanent closure.
The 49-year-old boiling-water reactor in Lacey Township ended operations on Sept. 17. Its used fuel is now held in a cooling pool or the plant’s on-site independent spent fuel storage installation.
Exelon plans to sell the plant to New Jersey-based energy technology specialist Holtec International for decommissioning, which it will carry out with Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin. The NRC must approve the license transfer, which Holtec and Exelon hope will happen next year.
An NRC resident inspector will remain at Oyster Creek for several months, agency spokesman Neil Sheehan said Wednesday by email. “The inspector will be focusing on the site’s safe transition from an operating reactor to one that is entering the decommissioning phase of its life cycle,” he stated. “Once we no longer have a Resident Inspector present, we will continue to perform reviews of decommissioning activities at the plant. A key focus in the next several years will be on the transfer of spent nuclear fuel from the spent fuel pool to dry cask storage.”
Exelon originally planned to place the Oyster Creek reactor into SAFSTOR mode for several decades, with decommissioning and site restoration to be finished in 2080. Holtec wants to speed that up to 2027.
The two companies are also planning a deal for the Palisades Power Plant in Michigan, with details of that sale expected closer to its planned shutdown in 2022.
