The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it remains on track to rule by the end of this month whether to approve the license transfer for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
An agency spokesman did not give a more specific schedule for the decision, which the NRC has said only would occur in the third quarter of the year. Site owner Entergy also said Friday only that an NRC decision was anticipated by the end of the month.
The New Orleans-based power company needs federal and state regulatory approval to sell the property to NorthStar Group Services for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management. The prospective new owner, a New York City-based nuclear cleanup specialist, has said it can complete decommissioning as early as 2026 at a cost of about $811 million. NorthStar, which would pay $1,000 for the plant, would keep some portion of what remains of the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust when work is complete. The trust held $555.7 million as of May 31.
If the NRC approves the deal, the next step would be authorization from the Vermont Public Utility Commission. The state panel in July agreed to wait for the NRC decision before issuing its own ruling, but has not officially said it would meet the companies’ request to act within 30 days.
Entergy closed the single-reactor power plant in Vernon in 2014. Contractor Holtec International earlier this summer completed the transfer of the facility’s remaining used reactor fuel from wet to dry storage, a requirement for the sale to proceed.
Inspectors from the NRC were on-site at three different times from April to July to monitor the $143 million fuel-transfer campaign, which involved nearly 3,000 spent fuel assemblies, Raymond Powell, head of the agency’s Decommissioning, ISFSI, and Reactor HP Branch, wrote in a Sept. 4 letter to Corey Daniels, Entergy decommissioning director at Vermont Yankee. “No findings of safety significance were identified,” according to Powell.
Issues raised by a group of senators about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s ongoing rulemaking for reactors shifting to decommissioning have and will be considered as the proceeding advances, according to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki.
“The specific issues in your letter – regulation by exemption, public participation and awareness, spent fuel storage, and financial and physical protection-were examined by the NRC staff in developing the proposed rule that is now before the Commission,” Svinicki wrote in an Aug 28 letter to the four lawmakers. “Your letter has been added to the rulemaking docket as part of the official record of comments on this matter and the Commission will evaluate these issues in our deliberations on the staff’s draft proposed rulemaking.
The letter was posted last week to the NRC website. There was no immediate comment on the matter from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who spearheaded the initial Aug. 3 letter with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
The senators highlighted a number of concerns in their four-page message to Svinicki, including: the absence of a “comprehensive set of decommissioning and cleanup regulations,” the NRC staff recommendation against requiring commission approval for nuclear operators’ plant decommissioning plans; and the proposed reduction in on-site and off-site liability insurance requirements for decommissioning sites, respectively to $50 million and $100 million.
The NRC rulemaking dating to 2015, has resulted in set of recommendations, including a graded approach for relaxing requirements for emergency preparedness, physical security, cybersecurity, and off- and on-site insurance at closed nuclear power plants. The proposal has been submitted to the five-person commission for consideration and possible revisions, with a vote on the completed plan expected in fall 2019.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has officially terminated the license for the long-closed Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Plant in California, according to a notice posted Tuesday to the Federal Register.
That opens the property in Herald, Calif., for unrestricted use.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) began providing power from the pressurized water reactor in April 1975 and closed the plant in June 1989 following a referendum by local residents. The reactor was defueled in December of that year and the NRC revised the operating license to “possession only” in March 1992, the Federal Register notice says.
Decommissioning at the 87-acre industrial facility began in 1997 and was largely complete by 2016. As of that year, the entire project was estimated to cost $520.1 million, according to a March 2017 decommissioning funding update from SMUD to the NRC.
Phase 1 of decommissioning, covering most of the property and facilities, wrapped up in 2006. Phase II, including removal of Class B and C low-level radioactive waste from an interim on-site storage building and decommissioning of the facility itself, was completed roughly a decade later.
That left operations needed to demonstrate the utility was complying with federal regulations for facility release standards.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is seeking a 40-year renewal for the license for Rancho Seco’s independent spent fuel storage installation. That would extend the license to June 2060. The dry storage pad near the plant holds 493 used fuel assemblies in 21 canisters, along with one canister of Greater-Than-Class-C waste.
Former Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman died Sept. 7, news outlets reported. He was 79.
Bodman led the Department of Energy from 2005 to 2009 during George W. Bush’x second term in office. During his tenure, Bodman fired Linton Brooks — the second full-time administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration — following security lapses at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
Under Bodman’s leadership, the Department of Energy in 2008 filed its license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
The Washington Post, citing a statement from Bush, said Bodman died of primary progressive aphasia, a neurological disorder.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated chemical engineer and business executive was also Bush’s deputy treasury secretary and deputy commerce secretary, prior to joining the Department of Energy.
A longtime consultant to the nuclear industry is scheduled to step into an executive position at the Nuclear Energy Institute on Sept. 24.
The Washington, D.C.-based trade group for the nuclear power industry said Douglas True would succeed John Pitesa as chief nuclear officer and executive vice president. In his new role, True will oversee NEI’s programs on used fuel, emergency planning, risk assessment, radiation safety, environmental protection, and fuel and materials safety, according to a press release.
True spent nearly three decades as president of ERIN Engineering and Research, a nuclear safety consulting firm based in Walnut Creek, Calif. The company merged with multinational engineering consultancy Jensen Hughes in May 2015, after which True served as an executive vice president at Jensen Hughes. He will leave his position at the company’s Power Services Group, NEI said.
Pitesa, a loaned executive from Duke Energy, will stay on at NEI through Dec. 1 while True transitions into his new job.
From The Wires
From Power Magazine: Federal appeals court upholds Illinois’ subsidy program for nuclear power plants.
From the Cape Cod Times: Staff from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet on Sept. 25 with executives from Entergy and Holtec International to discuss the planned sale of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass.
From Bayshore Broadcasting: Ontario Power Generation offers update on planned deep geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.
