U.S.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a notice of a standard license modification to Duke Energy Corp. on Thursday, as the company prepares to move material from its spent fuel pool at the Crystal River Nuclear Plant into dry casks, starting in 2017.
The modification requires Duke Energy to have a safeguard contingency plan for response to threats of radiological sabotage. All plants containing Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation pads have been subject to the same augmented security requirements as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks.
Plans call for the storage of 39 dry casks at the Crystal River, Fla., facility, where Duke Energy announced decommissioning in 2013. The company shut the plant down rather than pay costly repairs associated with separations within the concrete of the site’s containment building, which were discovered in 2011. The company opted for SAFSTOR, allowing the plant to sit under surveillance until 2074. The unit will remain in what is known as “dormancy” until large-component removal begins in 2068. NRC is expected to terminate the license in 2073, and site restoration activities will be completed in 2074.
Duke spokeswoman Heather Danenhower said via email Thursday that all spent fuel assemblies are now in the facility’s used fuel pool, which is “about the size of an Olympic swimming pool.” For security reasons, she would not disclose the exact amount of waste. Crews are expected to complete construction for the project, including installation of an independent spent fuel storage pad by 2017. All spent nuclear fuel assemblies are expected to be transferred into dry casks by February 2018, Danenhower said.
Kurion announced Monday the completion of construction and acceptance testing for its prototype Modular Detritiation System (MDS).
The company is touting MDS as the world’s first solution for removing tritium from large volumes of contaminated light water, which allows for the recycling or clean release of reactor cooling water for light-water reactors. The system uses a full-scale catalytic exchange column, according to Monday’s press release from Kurion. The company is in discussions with potential clients domestically and internationally in applying the technology.
“Tritium removal presents a unique cleanup challenge globally and Kurion is at the forefront to deliver the most advanced detritiation solutions to fulfill our clean energy promise,” Kurion’s senior vice president of separation, David Carlson, said in a statement. “We are working with leading tritium experts and customers globally to achieve this success. We combine more than three decades of innovation and improved economics to provide cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology to remove tritium and improve the environment now and in the future.”
