The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is weighing a request from the Omaha Public Power District that would exempt the utility from certain emergency planning requirements for the recently retired Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska.
The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) says now that Fort Calhoun is permanently shut down and defueled it poses less risk and should be granted exemptions from maintaining formal off-site radiological emergency plans, according to a Federal Register notice published Monday.
OPPD also wants to reduce certain on-site emergency planning work. The utility would keep certain capabilities to coordinate with local authorities, in the event of an emergency at the facility. Fort Calhoun was retired in October 2016 and was defueled the following month.
The Federal Register notice also indicates that NRC staff has issued an environmental assessment that concludes the exemptions would cause no significant risk.
The NRC expects to publish a proposed rule in 2018 that could reduce the need for nuclear operators to seek exemptions for reactors that are entering decommissioning.
OPPD is using a SAFSTOR (safe storage) decommissioning plan at Fort Calhoun. As of Oct. 31, OPPD’s decommissioning trust balance for the facility stood at $427.8 million, OPPD spokesperson Cris Averett said Monday by email. SAFSTOR enables operators to delay full decommissioning for up to 60 years while radioactivity levels drop and more funds are accumulated for cleanup.
Canadian agencies announced on Nov. 24 that milestones in development of a Near Surface Disposal Facility for low-level radioactive waste in Ontario were being pushed back.
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories is updating its draft environmental impact statement for the site following a public comment period that ended on Aug. 16, according to a notice from Canada’s Environmental Assessment Agency.
The public input process, in which more than 200 separate comments were submitted, had already led CNL to restrict the type of waste that would be interred in the facility to low-level radioactive material. Under previous plans, about 1 percent of the waste would have been intermediate-level waste.
“This decision was based, in part, on public remarks and federal technical submissions received through formal comments on the draft EIS,” Canadian Nuclear Laboratories said in its own release. “CNL also received requests for additional technical information from the CNSC. In order to respond, and to provide adequate time for third-party review, CNL has determined that the schedule for final EIS submittal and the licensing hearing will need to be amended.”
While CNL did not offer specifics, the Environmental Assessment Agency noted that the revised environmental impact statement had been anticipated in January 2018, followed by a public hearing on licensing the facility next July. An updated schedule has not yet been readied.
There was no immediate word on whether the rescheduling would impact the overall schedule for the facility. Construction has been scheduled to begin in 2018.
The engineered containment mound is due to open in 2020 at the Chalk River Laboratories to hold up to 1 million cubic meters of waste now in storage, or anticipated to be produced by, the nuclear research facility.
Testing and equipment installation continues on the giant metal arch that covers Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said Wednesday.
The arch, officially known as the New Safe Confinement, was put into place nearly one year ago over the reactor facility destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. It is scheduled before next July to be turned over to leadership of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), according to an EBRD press release.
Completion of the New Safe Confinement is a key step in the broader €2.1 billion Shelter Implementation Plan for remediation of the Chernobyl site.
Cranage, ventilation, and other systems are nearly finished being put into place, and the contaminated area around Reactor 4 is being sealed off. “Extensive testing” of the arch is also being conducted, the release says.
The crane unit, emplaced near the arch ceiling, will have a maximum weight allowance of 50 metric tons. It will be used in disassembly of Reactor 4.
Ventilation technology is intended to ensure the New Safe Confinement lives out its full planned 100-year life cycle, according to EBRD: “A relative humidity of no more than 40 per cent will keep the metal structure free or corrosion, while pressure differentials will prevent the release of radioactive dust and other particles.”
