RadWaste Monitor took a break over the past two weeks for Congress’ annual summer recess. Our affiliate publication, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, kept up on the latest news around the nuclear security enterprise and its industry partners. Here’s a recap of what happened while we were out.
NRC Schedules Meetings on Decommissioning Advisory Boards
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a series of meetings to take public input on best practices for community advisory boards for nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning.
The meetings will contribute to the agency’s preparation of a report to Congress on best practices for forming and operating such local boards, as required by the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act signed into law in January. The report is scheduled to be sent to Capitol Hill by next June.
The meetings are being held in communities that host nuclear facilities that have closed or are scheduled for retirement in the next few years. The dates are: Aug. 21 for the Palisades plant in Michigan; Aug. 26 for the Humboldt Bay plant in California; Aug. 27 for the Diablo Canyon plant in California; Aug. 29 for the San Onofre plant in California; Sept. 10 for the Vermont Yankee plant; Sept. 11 for the Pilgrim plant in Massachusetts; Sept. 24 for the Kewaunee plant in Wisconsin; Sept. 26 for the Zion plant in Illinois; Oct. 2 for the Indian Point plant in New York state; Oct. 3 for the Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey; and Oct. 10 for the Crystal River plant in Florida.
The NRC presented the schedule during a recent webinar offering an overview of nuclear power decommissioning procedures and federal oversight. Eleven reactors are in active decommissioning; 11 are in SAFSTOR mode, under which final decommissioning can be delayed for up to six decades; and 11 operational reactors are due to be retired by 2025.
Nearly 300 people logged in to the webinar. During the question-and-answer session, several speakers renewed their concerns about the operation of the community advisory board for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which was formed by plant owner Southern California Edison.
Calif. Senators Urge Federal Action on Used Nuclear Fuel Removal
A measure introduced in the California State Senate calls on the U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump to approve federal legislation that would prioritize removal of used fuel from power plants in the state.
Senate Joint Resolution 11 was introduced on Aug. 12 by state Sens. Patricia Bates (R) and Bill Monning (D). It was referred to the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, which on Thursday voted 11-0 in favor of adoption of the measure.
If passed, the resolution would have the California State Legislature call on the U.S. Department of Energy to “implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel” from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in San Diego County and the Diablo Canyon power plant in San Luis Obispo County.
More specifically, it also seeks passage of U.S. Rep. Mike Levin’s (D-Calif.) Spent Fuel Prioritization Act of 2019, filed in May and sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The Levin bill would amend the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act to direct the secretary of energy to prioritize removal of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants that are decommissioned or undergoing decommissioning; located in the areas with the highest populations; and located in the areas at greatest risk of earthquakes. Those apply to California’s nuclear plants, particularly the San Onofre facility.
Levin’s congressional district covers SONGS, which was permanently retired in 2013 and should soon begin the decommissioning process. The two-reactor Diablo Canyon is scheduled for closure by 2025.
“California has waited for years for the federal government to do its job and help move the state’s nuclear waste away from densely populated and environmentally sensitive areas,” Bates said in a prepared statement. “The Legislature must add its voice for action.”
Full Consent for Nuclear Waste Disposal ‘An Excuse to Do Nothing,’ Senators Told
Requiring comprehensive consent to build a nuclear waste disposal site is “an excuse to do nothing,” according to a leader in the Nevada county that would be home to the long-delayed repository under Yucca Mountain.
“To believe that any controversial project in the 21st century will get consent from every level of government – state, counties, cities, tribes – is unrealistic,” Nye County Commissioner Leo Blundo, the body’s liaison on nuclear waste issues, wrote in an Aug. 14 letter to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ranking Member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). “To believe that the consent will stand over the years of review and licensing is even more unrealistic.”
Blundo noted that the law on disposition of the nation’s radioactive waste remains the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which as amended in 1987 directs the Department of Energy to build its repository under a plot of federal land about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The commissioner was offering his thoughts on Senate Bill 1234, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2019, filed by Murkowski on April 30. The legislation contains a number of measures to promote interim storage and permanent disposition of tens of thousands of metric tons of nuclear waste. They include requiring consent for any storage or disposal facility from the governor of the participating state, the governing body of the municipality in which the site would be built, and the governing bodies of impacted Indian tribes.
Blundo argued that it could be difficult to achieve “universal” consensus, and that it might not last. He pointed to the case of New Mexico, where Holtec International hopes to build an interim storage facility for spent fuel from nuclear power reactors. While the state government under then-Gov. Susana Martinez (R) supported the project, it faces strenuous opposition from the administration of current Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D).
In any case, a permanent disposal solution will be needed for interim storage to succeed, according to Blundo.
“Given the unlikelihood of getting consent for a permanent repository, if an interim site is authorized, it will become a de facto final resting place for nuclear waste,” he wrote. “As a result, States and local governments will likely be unwilling to accept interim storage.”
While Nevada leaders at the state and federal level have vehemently opposed accepting other states’ nuclear waste, Nye County has been more welcoming as officials eye potential economic benefits from the project.
The state has filed more than 200 technical contentions against the Department of Energy’s 2008 license application before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the Yucca Mountain repository. The Obama administration defunded that proceeding nearly a decade ago, but Nevada has pledged to file more contentions should it ever resume.
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act offered Nevada an opportunity to veto the Yucca Mountain site recommendation, which then-Gov. Kenny Guinn employed in 2002. However, Congress overrode that objection.
Virginia Firm Takes $95M FUSRAP Contract
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this month awarded a $95 million contract for environmental remediation in the St. Louis, Mo., area under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).
HydroGeoLogic, headquartered in Reston, Va., overcame one other bidder for the cost-plus-fixed fee deal, according to an Aug. 8 procurement notice from the Pentagon. “Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2025,” the notice says.
FUSRAP, created in 1974, identifies, evaluates, and remediates sites that were radioactively contaminated from the 1940s to 1960s by nuclear-weapon and energy operations of the Manhattan Engineer District and Atomic Energy Commission.
HydroGeoLogic is the incumbent contractor for the St. Louis sites, under an award issued in 2016 and worth an estimated $50 million through March 2021.
In the procurement notice issued in April, the Army Corps said the award would involve cleanup at two radioactively contaminated locations: The St. Louis Downtown Site, used by Mallinckrodt Chemical Works under federal contract from 1942 to 1957 for uranium-compound processing, machining, and uranium metal recovery; and the St. Louis North County Sites, encompassing the St. Louis Airport Site (SLAPS) and SLAPS Vicinity Properties, which were used for decades to store various residues generated by Mallinckrodt uranium processing.
The contracted operations encompass “any and all remediation work,” including field engineering, radiological and safety support, cleanup of contaminated soil, and management services, according to the solicitation. It would primarily involve extraction of low-level radioactive material. The contamination largely consists of thorium, radium, and uranium, along with cadmium, arsenic, and other nonradioactive substances.
Holtec Transport Cask Gets NRC Approval
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has certified Holtec International’s latest spent nuclear fuel transportation package.
The Camden, N.J., energy technology company last week announced the approval following a review that began in February 2018, which will allow it to deploy the HI-STAR 100MB. Management expects it will be used to ship spent fuel from nuclear power plants to Holtec’s planned consolidated interim storage site in New Mexico.
“Within the United States, the HI-STORE CISF is the most likely transport location, so it will likely be the first use,” Holtec spokesman Joe Delmar said by email. “There may be potential international uses prior to the HI-STORE CISF operation.”
Actual shipments would follow a “competent authority certification” from the Department of Transportation, citing the NRC approval, Delmar said. The Transportation Department process generally takes about two weeks, he added.
The transport cask is capable of carrying used fuel in multipurpose canisters, as well as material that is not in a container. It can carry moderate-burnup and high-burnup fuel and can be stored on-site, according to a Holtec release.
“Developing ever more robust transport casks with ever more versatility to make fuel transport on our nation’s railroads ever safer is a core mission of our Nuclear Power Division. HI-STAR 100MB exemplifies our new generation of transport casks that fulfill the above mission in full measure,” Stefan Anton, Holtec vice president of engineering and licensing, said in the release.
In March 2017, Holtec applied for a license from the NRC to build and operate its underground storage facility that could ultimately hold more than 100,000 metric tons of spent fuel. The agency expects by March 2021 to complete its technical review on the application, which would precede a ruling. With regulatory approval, construction could start by 2022 and operations in 2024, Delmar stated.
Canada Completes System for Coating Used Fuel Containers With Copper
Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has partnered with three private firms to manufacture a novel system for coating spent nuclear fuel containers in copper as part of the program to prevent any release of radiation from an eventual underground disposal site.
The nonprofit, utility-funded organization is in site selection and planning for construction of a geologic repository that would hold an anticipated 5.2 million bundles of used fuel from the nation’s nuclear power plants. Five locations, all in Ontario, remain in contention.
The Nanovate Testing System tank would “clad” the steel used fuel containers in copper as a means of preventing corrosion, according to an NWMO press release. The vessels would spend roughly 10 days submerged in an electroplating solution, which would leave a copper coating of 4 to 5 millimeters, though additional research and development could shorten that timeline.
The finished tank is the result of three years of development at a cost of roughly $3 million CAD ($2.3 million), according to Derek Wilson, NWMO chief engineer and vice president of contract management.
“The NWMO is responsible for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel, in a manner that protects both people and the environment,” Wilson told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing by email. “A key part of our ongoing work is the NWMO proof testing program, which works to ensure the best available research, science, technology and engineering acumen is put to work in service of Canada’s plan, this includes development of the NTS tank.”
The tank will ultimately be put to work when the NWMO manufactures its used fuel containers. Integran Technologies provided the coating process development and holds the tank at its facility in Mississauga, Ontario. The other participating companies were Integrated Technologies, of Burlington, Vt., which provided plating tank design, and Empire Buff Ltd., of Quebec, for the tank fabrication.
The NWMO plans to select the site for its deep geologic repository in 2023, followed by regulatory approval, construction, and decades of waste emplacement.
