Tag: the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

NRC To Issue Final Rule for Mitigating Severe Events at U.S. Reactors

Posted on by MidwestCompact

On January 24, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NR) announced that agency staff has been directed to publish a rule based on lessons learned from the March 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant.  The rule builds on Orders that the NRC issued in March 2012.

Overview

The Mitigation of Beyond-Design-Basis Events rule, which will be published in the Federal Register in spring 2019, applies to operating commercial nuclear power plants and power reactor license applicants.  The rule’s primary impact lies in requiring U.S. commercial reactors to:

  • maintain resources and procedures to cool a reactor’s core and spent fuel pool, as well as preserve the reactor’s containment, following an event that disables all of a site’s normal and emergency a/c electrical power sources, as well as the site’s ability to safely transfer heat to the environment;
  • maintain equipment that can reliably measure spent fuel pool water levels following a severe event; and,
  • preserve the resources needed to protect the core, containment and spent fuel pool from external hazards.

Applicability

Most U.S. nuclear power plants must comply with the rule’s requirements within two years and 30 days of the rule’s publication in the Federal Register.  Those plants subject to the NRC’s Containment Venting Order of March 2013 must comply with the rule within three years and 30 days of the rule’s publication.

The rule applies more broadly than either the venting or Mitigation Strategies Order (issued in 2012) or conditions included in new reactor licenses issued since 2012.  The rule therefore includes language that ends the Orders and license conditions once the rule’s requirements are in place.  The rule also lays out the process for ending the requirements for a plant that has permanently shut down.

Background

The NRC staff responded to public comments on the draft rule by removing, reorganizing, clarifying and enhancing several sections.  The rule also resolves five petitions for rulemaking that were submitted in July 2011.  The rule also partially resolves a sixth petition submitted in May 2011.

The NRC and its nuclear power plant licensees will continue post-Fukushima efforts outside of the rulemaking context, including analyses of whether additional safety improvements are necessary in response to updated site-specific seismic and flooding risk assessments.

For additional information, please contact Scott Burnell of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 415-8200

Holtec Requests NRC Approve Sale of Pilgrim Site by End of 2019

Posted on by MidwestCompact

Seeks to Complete Decommissioning Decades Earlier

On November 16, 2018, Entergy Corporation and Holtec International, through their affiliates, asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to approve the sale of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to Holtec after shutdown.  According to the associated press release, doing so would allow Holtec to complete decommissioning and site restoration decades sooner than if Entergy completed decommissioning.

OverviewThe companies jointly filed a License Transfer Application, requesting approval for the transfer of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, as well as its Nuclear Decommissioning Trust Fund, to Holtec after the plant permanently shuts down by June 1, 2019.  They also made detailed separate filings that lay out the process each company would use to decommission the facility.

In order to facilitate a timely transaction closing by the end of 2019, the companies have asked the NRC to approve the application by May 31, 2019.  According to the press release, doing so will benefit the community, employees and other interested constituents.

Holtec’s filings describe the plan of its subsidiary, Holtec Decommissioning International, to complete the dismantling, decontamination and remediation of Pilgrim to NRC standards within eight years of license transfer (i.e., by the end of 2027) assuming timely regulatory approvals.  According to the press release, Holtec’s process will achieve site restoration decades sooner than if Entergy retained the plant while meeting all applicable local, state and federal regulations.

Holtec estimates total costs for decommissioning Pilgrim at $1.13 billion.  As of October 31, 2018, the balance in Pilgrim’s Decommissioning Trust Fund was $1.05 billion.

Holtec has contracted with Comprehensive Decommissioning International, LLC (CDI) to perform the decommissioning, including demolition and site cleanup.  CDI is a joint venture company of Holtec International and SNC-Lavalin.  According to the press release, “The decommissioning experience held by Holtec and SNC-Lavalin gives CDI more than half a century of managing complex projects in both the commercial and government nuclear sectors worldwide.”

Project Highlights

The completion of decommissioning will result in the release of all portions of the site from the current NRC license, with the exception of the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) – the area where spent nuclear fuel is stored in dry casks until the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) transfers the spent fuel offsite.

As part of its plan, Holtec expects to move all spent nuclear fuel into dry casks within three years following plant shutdown.  Additionally, Holtec has a pending application with the NRC for a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) in New Mexico, which could eventually store spent nuclear fuel from Pilgrim and other U.S. nuclear power plants.

Background

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station employs about 600 nuclear professionals and generates 680 megawatts of virtually carbon-free electricity, enough to power more than 600,000 homes.  Pilgrim began generating electricity in 1972.  Entergy purchased the plant in 1999 from Boston Edison.

Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations.  Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 9,000 megawatts of nuclear power.  Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.  Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $11 billion and more than 13,000 employees.

Holtec International is a privately held energy technology company with operation centers in Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the United States.  Globally, Holtec International has operation centers in Brazil, Dubai, India, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.  Holtec’s principal business concentration is in the nuclear power industry.  Since the 1980s, Holtec has been densifying wet storage in nuclear plants’ spent fuel pools, which defers the need for and expense of alternative measures by as much as two decades.  Holtec has done this at over 110 reactor units in the United States and abroad.  Holtec also offers services regarding dry storage and transport of nuclear fuel.  Holtec is working to develop the world’s first below-ground CISF in New Mexico and a 160-Megawatt walk away safe small modular reactor, SMR-160.  The SMR-160 is developed to bring cost competitive carbon-free energy to all corners of the earth including water-challenged regions.  Holtec is also a major supplier of special-purpose pressure vessels and critical-service heat exchange equipment such as air-cooled condensers, steam generators, feedwater heaters and water-cooled condensers.  Virtually all products produced by Holtec are built in its three large manufacturing plants in the United States and one in India.

For additional information about the Pilgrim plant, please go to www.pilgrimpower.com.  Additional information about Entergy is available at www.entergy.com.  To learn more about Holtec International, please visit www.holtecinternational.com.  

NRC Issues Construction Permit to Northwest Medical Isotopes LLC

Posted on by MidwestCompact

On May 9, 2017, NRC announced that agency staff has issued a construction permit to Northwest Medical Isotopes LLC (NWMI) for a molybdenum-99 production facility in Columbia, Missouri.  The permit is for a site at the Discovery Ridge Research Park.

Overview 

The Commissioners authorized the Director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation to issue the permit following a hearing on the application on January 23, 2018.  The Commission found the staff’s review of the application sufficient to make the necessary regulatory safety and environmental findings.

NWMI submitted its application for permission to build the facility in two parts on February 5, 2015 and July 20, 2015.  It will produce molybdenum-99, which later generates the technicium-99m that is used in one of the most common nuclear medicine procedures in the United States.

Background

The NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) independently reviewed aspects of the application that concerned safety, as well as the staff’s safety evaluation report.  The committee provided the results of its review to the Commission in November 2017.

The staff completed its environmental review and issued the final environmental impact statement for the proposed facility in May 2017.

For additional information, please contact Scott Burnell of the NRC at (301) 415-8200.

Waste Management Accepting Abstracts & Fellow Award Nominations

Posted on by MidwestCompact

Abstracts are now being accepted for the Waste Management 2018 Conference, which will be held at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona on March 18-22, 2018.  This year’s conference theme is Nuclear and Industrial Robotics, Remote Systems and Other Emerging Technologies.

Background  The annual Waste Management Conference, presented by WM Symposia (WMS), is an international symposium concerning the safe and secure management of radioactive wastes arising from nuclear operations, facility decommissioning and environmental remediation, as well as storage, transportation and disposal and associated activates.  WMS was founded to provide a forum for discussing and seeking cost-effective and environmentally responsible solutions for the safe management and disposition of radioactive waste and radioactive materials.  WM2018 marks the 44th year of the conference and is expected to attract over 2,000 nuclear specialists from over 35 countries, presenting more than 500 papers in over 130 technical sessions.

Supporting Organizations  Supporting organizations include the American Nuclear Society (ANS), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA).  The conference is also organized in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Abstract Submissions  WMS welcomes abstracts in nine topic areas related to nuclear waste management.  The submission site became available in mid-June 2017. To submit an abstract, interested parties will need to visit the WMS website at www.wmsym.org and login using a registered username and password.  The deadline for submission is Friday, August 11, 2017.  Please note, there is a limit of abstract submissions to two (2) per presenter, but no limit on the number of abstracts that may be co-authored.

Fellow Award Nominations  WMS is also accepting nominations for the conference Fellow Award.  Nominations must be submitted no later than August 11, 2017.  Nomination forms should be submitted to awards@wmarizona.org.  All questions related to the WMS Fellowship should be directed to Fred Sheil, Chair of the WM Board of Directors Honors & Awards Committee.  Sheil can be reached by phone at +44-19-46-813342 or by email at Fred@Sheil.myzen.co.uk.

The Call for Abstracts and the detailed Topic Listing are available online at www.wmsym.org.  For additional information on the Waste Management Conference, please call (480) 557-0263 or email to shelley@wmarizona.org.