The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week began its full review of a license transfer application that would return control of the nearly decommissioned La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor in Wisconsin to its owner.
The nuclear power plant has been closed since 1987, and Dairyland Power Cooperative in March 2016 received NRC authorization to transfer the operating license to LaCrosseSolutions LLC for decommissioning.
LaCrosseSolutions, an offshoot of Salt Lake City-based nuclear services company EnergySolutions, began work in June of that year. “The site is in the final stages of radiological decommissioning, environmental remediation of the LABWR facility and site restoration,” according to the license transfer application filed in June. “It is anticipated that site restoration will be complete no later than the end of the second quarter of 2019.”
Most structures at the plant have been brought down, with confirmatory surveys of the property due to continue into 2019, Dairyland spokeswoman Deb Mirasola said Tuesday by email.
“The NRC will rule on the license transfer application once the review is completed. This is expected the second half of next year,” Mirasola said. “The license will not be transferred until all the conditions of the license termination plan are met.”
That effectively means the property has been remediated to the level at which it meets federal rules for release of the site for other use.
Dairyland remain responsible for management of the spent fuel storage pad and eventual disposal of the radioactive material. The license would be fully terminated only when the fuel is removed by the Department of Energy. There is no schedule for that to occur, Mirasola said.
The storage facility holds 333 used fuel elements, according to the application.
“The staff completed its acceptance review last week, and the goal for completing the full review is April 2019,” NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said by email Tuesday. “The transfer would not go into effect until LaCrosse Solutions completes the decommissioning and license termination activities. The staff anticipates a straightforward review given that Dairyland is the previous licensee and is a public utility.”
Stakeholders have until Nov. 13 to submit comments on the license transfer application. Comments can be submitted at regulations.gov, Docket ID NRC-2018-0217; by email to [email protected]; by fax to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 301-415-1101; by mail to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; or in person to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md.
Staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are revising a draft environmental assessment for the Department of Energy’s requested license renewal for the storage pad at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for waste from reactor Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
The federal agency in September submitted the initial environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for review by Idaho’s Department of Environmental Quality. However, it withdrew the document after determining it did not include a legally required evaluation of the environmental effect of a hypothetical terrorist attack on the facility. That section is now being added.
“Essentially the process just got halted,” Mark Clough, INL settlement agreement coordinator for the state agency, told RadWaste Monitor.
The revised document should be submitted to the Department of Environmental Quality early next month, an NRC spokesman said. The state would then again have 30 days to comment on the environmental assessment.
The Energy Department is seeking a 20-year license extension for the INL storage pad, which holds spent nuclear fuel core debris left by the reactor’s partial meltdown in March 1979. The initial version of the NRC report said there would not be any significant environmental impact from renewing the license, which currently expires on March 19, 2019. The waste is due to be removed from Idaho by Jan. 1, 2035.
Even with the delay, the NRC still expects to complete the environmental assessment and FONSI next spring, the spokesman said. Staff at the agency’s Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards will decide whether to approve the license renewal.
From the Wires
From the Union of Concerned Scientists: Over 33 percent of U.S. nuclear power plants are scheduled to close or otherwise at risk of retirement. Full report here.
