Pilgrim nuclear plant to be sold after shutdown

By Christine Legere Posted Aug 1, 2018

Potential new owner sees decommissioning as ‘rapid growth market.’

PLYMOUTH — The owner of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station announced Wednesday a plan to sell the Plymouth plant to a subsidiary of Holtec International for accelerated decommissioning after the reactor is permanently shut down in June.

The transfer would include the nuclear reactor and the site, radioactive spent fuel, and more than $1 billion in Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust fund. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees the decommissioning of nuclear facilities and requires owners to set aside money for the work.

Under the plan for Pilgrim, the transfer from owner-operator Entergy Corp. to Holtec would take place in 2020, after the final 500 fuel assemblies are removed from the reactor.

Holtec expects to move all 4,000 of the radioactive spent fuel assemblies into heavy concrete and steel dry casks within three years — a measure plant watchdogs and legislators have been lobbying for — and to complete all major decommissioning work within eight years.

Under federal regulations, reactors may remain mothballed but not fully decommissioned for up to 60 years after shutdown.

The timeline was well received by former state Sen. Daniel Wolf, who now serves as a member of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Panel for Pilgrim.

“I think it’s good news, the company is an expert in decommissioning and is committed to rapid decommissioning,” Wolf said. “But none of that means we should relax in overseeing the process.”

Plant watchdogs have been lobbying for several years for a speedy transfer of the spent fuel at Pilgrim from the tightly packed spent-fuel pool on top of the reactor building into dry casks, which they believe is a safer method of storage.

Entergy said its Palisades reactor in Michigan would be sold to the same Holtec International subsidiary, under a similar arrangement, once it is permanently shut down in 2022, as well as the site of the decommissioned Big Rock Point Nuclear Power plant, also in Michigan, where all that remains is the spent fuel from the reactor’s 30-year operation.

The company picking up the Entergy plants was formed recently via a joint venture by Holtec International and SNC-Lavalin, called Comprehensive Decommissioning International, which will be headquartered in Camden, New Jersey, and handle at least three decommissioning projects in the coming years.

On Tuesday, Exelon Generation announced the sale of its Oyster Creek nuclear plant in southern New Jersey to Holtec when the reactor, the oldest in the country, shuts down later this year. Comprehensive Decommissioning International will handle decommissioning.

“With an aging nuclear power plant fleet and the rise of lower-cost means of energy generation in the United States, decommissioning has become a rapid growth market with a forecast value exceeding $14 billion USD over the next ten years,” Holtec noted in its website announcement of the formation of Comprehensive Decommissioning International. “The safe deconstruction of nuclear power plants requires complex project planning and project management, specialized nuclear skills, proven processes and innovative technologies.”

The post went on to say Comprehensive Decommissioning International’s vision is to become the leading decommissioning contractor in the market.

David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said it would be to Holtec’s benefit to do a good job.

“After all, with many other reactor decommissionings looming in the near-term and mid-term, Holtec has plenty of incentive to get it right,” Lochbaum wrote in an email. “Botching the effort at Pilgrim and/or Palisades would make it wicked hard to sell decommissioning services to others.”

Mary Lampert, president of Pilgrim Watch, did not share Lochbaum’s optimism. “How can Holtec do the cleanup for less than what is in (Pilgrim’s) decommissioning trust fund now and have money left over to make a handsome profit, when Entergy said there is not enough money in the fund to do the job?” Lampert asked. “The sale to Holtec creates incentives to cut corners, and provide a cheap and dirty cleanup.”

Purchase of the Pilgrim site may carry the added benefit of having the spent fuel ultimately removed from the Plymouth location, according to Joy Russell, Holtec’s chief communications officer.

Holtec has an application under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a subterranean Consolidated Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility in New Mexico.

The facility would be licensed to accept spent fuel, and assemblies stored in Holtec’s dry casks would be given priority, Russell said.

Before the agreement for the sale can be completed, the NRC has to approve a transfer of license, reviewing the proposal to ensure the company taking over has the financial and technical capabilities to safely complete decommissioning.

http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20180801/pilgrim-nuclear-plant-to-be-sold-after-shutdown