U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) this week expressed concerns about the potential dangers climate change could pose to long-term storage of used nuclear reactor fuel on-site at nuclear power plants around the country.
In an April 23 letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Kristine Svinicki, Markey drew attention to what he said were plans by power company Entergy to store used fuel from its soon-to-retire Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Massachusetts in 60 dry casks 25 feet above sea level and 200 feet from the Atlantic coast.
“As plants like Pilgrim shutter across the nation and plan to store spent nuclear fuel on site for years – even decades – to come, it is imperative that these plants and the NRC regulations fully consider the impacts of climate change on dangerous nuclear waste,” Markey wrote. “The NRC regulations must ensure that dry casks are not vulnerable to flooding, corrosion, and other damage, especially as climate change contributes to rising sea levels and increasingly severe and unpredictable storms.”
Markey said the NRC has not yet responded to questions he posed in a March 21 hearing on whether the agency’s safety standards and upcoming rules for power plants transitioning into decommissioning will address climate change projections. He called on the NRC to by April 30 answer a number of additional questions, including: details of “continual monitoring” of spent fuel storage installations; information on NRC research on potential saltwater corrosion on fuel dry storage casks; and how the NRC can be assured casks at Pilgrim are protected from earthquake dangers.
An NRC spokesman said the agency would respond to Markey, but did not offer additional information.
Owner Entergy plans to close the Pilgrim plant by May 31, 2019. It expects by summer to select the location of a second storage pad that will hold the remainder of the plant’s used nuclear fuel. A number of technical and regulatory requirements are guiding the process, Entergy spokesman Patrick O’Brien said by email. These include addressing potential hazards such as flooding, earthquakes, fires, and tornados.
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