A natural gas pipeline does not pose a significant danger to the nearby Indian Point Energy Center in upstate New York, according to a team of experts formed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The group’s report was filed with the industry regulator on April 8 and made public Wednesday.
“The team determined that, even though Entergy (the plant owner) and the NRC made some optimistic assumptions in analyzing potential rupture of the 42-inch natural gas transmission pipeline, the Indian Point reactors remain safe,” according to the findings.
The nuclear power plant has three reactors. Unit 1 was retired in 1974, with Unit 2 scheduled to close by the end of this month and Unit 3 next April. Entergy plans to sell the facility to Holtec International for decommissioning.
The Algonquin Incremental Market 42-inch pipeline began operation in 2017, following approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with input from the NRC. The project encompasses nearly 38 miles of pipeline and associated infrastructure in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York state.
In a Feb. 13 report, the NRC Inspector General’s Office found errors in the agency’s analysis of potential hazards from the pipeline, which crosses the Indian Point property in Buchanan, N.Y. For one, according to the IG, the “NRC’s inspection report contained inaccuracies suggesting additional analysis had been conducted, when this was not the case.”
The inspector general’s findings led NRC Executive Director for Operations Margaret Doane to form the experts’ group to review the previous safety findings from the agency and Entergy. Contributors included personnel from the NRC, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration at the Department of Transportation, and the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories, according to a press release Wednesday.
They ultimately determined that the pipeline was not likely to rupture, and that even if that happened it is far enough away from the nuclear plant to prevent damage.
The report does include a number of recommendations for the NRC. Broadly, the agency should “improve its processes and practices for technical reviews, inspection support, petition reviews, pipeline analysis, and coordination with other agencies,” it says.
Entergy was also urged to use data collected during the evaluation to revise the assumptions employed in its safety review.
The Idaho congressional delegation last week urged Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to prioritize preparation of spent nuclear fuel at the Idaho National Laboratory for shipment out of state by the end of 2034.
The Energy Department should follow the U.S. Navy’s lead in getting spent fuel at INL “road ready,” according to an April 8 letter from Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch, along with Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher, all Republicans
The lawmakers said they want DOE “to begin loading of spent nuclear fuel into a multi-purpose canister (MPC) at the Idaho National Laboratory using existing facilities.”
Roughly 300 pounds of special nuclear material, such as plutonium and uranium-233, came to INL from out-of-state nuclear sites.
A 1995 agreement between Idaho, DOE, and the Navy allowed the federal entities to ship a certain amount of spent fuel into the state in phases for nuclear energy research. The agreement also bound them to remove all pre-existing spent fuel from INL by Jan. 1, 2035.
Last November, Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden reached a deal with the federal government to supplement the 1995 agreement to allow research quantities of commercial spent nuclear fuel to enter the site. The agreement is contingent upon DOE reaching certain cleanup milestones at the lab, including shipment of transuranic waste out of state and startup of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit.
Southern California Edison is unsure how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the cost and schedule for decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
The utility has paused preparations for demolition of reactor containment structures and removing heavy equipment from the retired nuclear power plant in San Diego County. However, Edison and its contractors are continuing with preliminary operations, including the ongoing transfer of spent fuel from two reactors into dry storage.
As of last week, Edison had moved 58 of 73 canisters of used fuel rods to underground storage along the Pacific Ocean. That work, carried out by contractor Holtec International, is expected to be finished this summer. Other on-site preparations for decommissioning are underway, with the main work due to be completed by 2028.
On March 25, Edison announced it would pause some decommissioning work to study what could be continued under its protocols for dealing with a pandemic. It continued asbestos removal in the containment buildings for reactor Units 2 and 3, completed upgrading a rail spur, and has been studying the site’s contamination. However, a significant amount of other preparation work on the reactor containment domes is still being evaluated regarding the coronavirus’ ripple effects on operations.
The evaluation is part of Edison’s response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) March 19 executive order directing California residents to stay home unless they are needed to support the functioning of critical infrastructure. The order is intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Southern California Edison permanently retired SONGS Units 2 and 3 in 2013, more than two decades after Unit 1 was shuttered in 1992. Major decommissioning operations began in February on the two reactors, a $4.4 billion job managed by contractor SONGS Decommissioning Solutions.
The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing key documents for cleanup of two sections of the West Lake Landfill in Missouri.
Both documents were filed in March by the potentially responsible parties for remediation of Operable Unit 1 (OU-1) and Operable Unit 2 (OU-2) of the Superfund property near St. Louis, according to an April update from the EPA.
The draft design investigation work plan for OU-1 will provide details of investigations needed to complete design for the cleanup approach set in a 2018 update to the 2008 record of decision on remediating West Lake. Approval of a revised work plan for remedial design of OU-2 would enable property owner Bridgeton Landfill LLC to begin the actual design under a 2008 record of decision.
Operable Unit 1 is the radioactively contaminated portion of the 200-acre West Lake Landfill, the result of the use as trash cover of 39,000 tons of surface soil mixed with 8,700 tons of leached barium sulfite residues. The potentially responsible parties are Bridgeton Landfill, Cotter Corp., and the Department of Energy.
The selected cleanup remedy involves extracting radiologically impacted material down as far as 20 feet in the contaminated zones. Soil contaminated at levels above 52.9 picocuries per gram would largely be removed to a depth of 12 feet. In certain sections material with concentrations above 52.9 picocuries per gram will not be removed at depths of 8 to 12 feet. Following completion of excavation, an engineered cover would be placed atop the impacted area. This work is forecast to cost $205 million over three years, paid by the potentially responsible parties.
In this month’s update, the EPA said its Region 7 office would review and submit comments on the draft design investigation work plan. It would be made public after the agency submits comments to the potentially responsible parties.
Operable Unit 2 at West Lake encompasses the non-contaminated Bridgeton Landfill, Inactive Sanitary Landfill, and the Closed Demolition Landfill. Bridgeton Landfill is the potentially responsible party. The EPA is responsible only for remedial design of the Inactive Sanitary Landfill, with the rest falling to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Environmental and construction services provider APTIM on April 10 announced its second new chief executive officer in a year.
Mark Fallon will assume the CEO position on April 20, according to an APTIM press release. He succeeds Michael Donnelly, who was appointed chief executive officer in April 2019 and is retiring.
“We are pleased to welcome Mark to APTIM as CEO,” Ramzi Musallam, CEO and managing partner of APTIM owner Veritas Capital, said in a press release. “Mark brings over twenty-five years of experience across both the government and the commercial markets that APTIM serves and is an ideal fit to lead APTIM going forward. We are confident that Mark’s strategic leadership will help us position APTIM for long-term success.”
APTIM has more than 4,000 ongoing projects globally in spheres including engineering, program management, disaster recovery, and facility maintenance.
Among other work, it decommissioned the nuclear power reactor on the STURGIS barge for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It also provides maintenance and other services for nuclear power plants owned by Exelon.
Fallon since August 2018 had served as president and CEO for both Envirocon and Modern Machinery, two subsidiaries of the Washington Cos., according to his LinkedIn profile. He had held that role at Envirocon from October 2016, after more than six years with CH2M. He did an earlier stint as a CH2M vice president from 1998 to 2004.
Fallon is a member of the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Advisory Board, which provides independent guidance on cleanup of 16 nuclear-weapon sites dating to the Manhattan Project and Cold War.
Donnelly had been with APTIM since 2018, and was promoted to CEO last April. His over 35-year career included stops at AECOM, Raytheon, URS, and other companies.
A former employee of energy technology firm Holtec International said in a federal lawsuit Monday that she was forced to resign in January in the face of harassment and illegal practices on medical and family leave.
Gereka Bracey is seeking reimbursement for lost earnings, punitive damages, damages for emotional distress, and legal costs, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for New Jersey.
Bracey said she was hired as a welder at Holtec’s Camden. N.J., production hub in March 2018. She was among no more than three women on a shop floor of about 100 employees, and was subjected to unfair treatment by management and harassment by one co-worker, the complaint says.
Bracey said she was generally the last shop employee to be assigned specific work, meaning she ended up doing sweeping, wiping, or other activities that did not match her skills.
Starting in October 2019, she was also subjected to harassment by a male co-worker, including whistling “in a cat-calling manner” and inappropriate comments, the lawsuit says. Bracey complained to her supervisor and Holtec human resources, but was required to work with the employee in December of that year after being told that would not happen, it adds.
Beginning in March 2019, Bracey said she took leave under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act to deal with medical issues and mental-health concerns. She also required leave under the New Jersey Family Leave Act after receiving guardianship of her 24-year-old son, who is autistic and has significant developmental delays.
In January of this year, Holtec reportedly said Bracey had used up all her available leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act and denied her request to use time under the New Jersey Family Leave Act to care for her son.
“On or about January 24, 2020, due to her need for leave to provide care to her son, Defendant’s refusal to provide Plaintiff the leave she was entitled to, and the ongoing harassment and discrimination on the basis of her gender, Plaintiff had no choice but to resign from employment (Plaintiff was constructively discharged),” the lawsuit says.
Holtec did not respond to a query regarding the lawsuit.
From The Wires
From the Australian Broadcasting Corp.: A joint committee of the Australian Parliament says a planned nuclear waste repository in South Australia could breach the human rights on local indigenous groups.
From BBC News: Firefighters control blaze near Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
