Pilgrim Nuclear: Same Age Same Design as Fukushima

Attorney General Healey urges Congress to step up safety at nuclear power plants

Healey calls for better security at decommissioned sites and sites like Pilgrim that store spent fuel

ARTICLE | NEWS | JUNE 19, 2015 05:00 AM | BY CAPECODTODAY STAFF

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Keeping in stride with her predecessor, Attorney General Maura Healey has called upon Congress to increase the safety at the country's nuclear power plants, particularly those that are decommissioned and those that store spent fuel. In a letter Thursday, Healey urged Congress to pass three bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Senator Edward Markey, according to a release from the AG's Office.

In a letter to US Senator James M. Inhofe, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Ranking Member Barbara Boxer, Healey wrote, "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has long had an obligation to develop meaningful long-term solutions to the current on-site storage of nuclear waste in facilities across the country, yet it has failed to do so."

According to the AG, the federal government must ensure proper security is in place at decommissioned nuclear power plants and at operating plants such as Pilgrim Nuclear Plant in Plymouth where spent fuel is stored. Specifically, in her letter, Healey advocated for the passage of the reintroduced Safe and Secure Decommissioning Act of 2015 (S.944), the Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of 2015 (S.964) and the Dry Cask Storage Act of 2015 (S.945). 

The Dry Cask Storage Act of 2015 (S.945) is sponsored by Senator Markey. Markey introduced the bill in tandem with the sponsors of the other two bills in April. 

"More than 40 years after the federal government licensed the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, MA and the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, VT (located less than ten miles from the Massachusetts border), a permanent nuclear waste repository remains out of reach," the letter said. "It is unacceptable. While we are hopeful that the federal government will fulfill its obligations to provide a long-term storage solution, the absence of a long-term solution has created issues for states and their residents that need to be addressed now."

Bills S.964 and S.944, both have to do with the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. S.964 is sponsored by Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont and calls for more public involvement and say in decommissioning. The Yankee Nuclear Plant in Vermont was decommissioned in 2014. Yankee, is owned by the same firm that owns Pilgrim, Entergy.

AG Healey's predecessor, Martha Coakley supported the call for the closure of the nuclear plant in Plymouth. In 2011, then AG Coakley petitioned the NRC to not renew the 20-year license for Pilgrim and when the license was renewed, AG Coakley appealed the decision in 2012. Pilgrim has remained open and operative to this day.

Pilgrim's dry cask storage plan is outlined on the Entergy website here.

Related Content:

Markey presses nuke bills, airs concerns about Pilgrim

Pilgrim to move spent fuel into dry casks

Solutions sought to eliminate "stockpiling" of spent nuclear fuel at Plymouth

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NUCLEAR POWER

Entergy sues over waste

Owner of Plymouth nuclear plant says federal government responsible for spent fuel.

The owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station has filed a suit against the federal government, looking to recover costs and exact damages for being forced to continue storing highly radioactive spent fuel at the Plymouth site.


By Christine Legere
clegere@capecodonline
Posted Jan. 5, 2015 @ 7:54 pm

PLYMOUTH - The owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station has sued the federal government, looking to recoup costs and exact damages for being forced to continue storing highly radioactive spent fuel at the Plymouth facility.

Entergy Corp. contends the government reneged on its obligation to build a federal repository for nuclear waste in the case filed Dec. 30 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.

Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act enacted by Congress in 1982, the U.S. government was required to begin disposal of commercially-generated spent fuel in federal repositories no later than January 1998, in return for some hefty fees paid by the owners of the nuclear energy operations.

Entergy has paid $167 million into the waste fund since buying the Pilgrim plant from Boston Edison in 1999, to help cover the costs of building and operating a federal repository, according to court documents.

The suit is the second Pilgrim-related case Entergy has filed against the U.S. government. A previous suit, relating to costs incurred between 1999 and December 2008, netted the company $4.1 million for costs incurred and $27,000 for legal expenses.

This latest suit seeks to recover money spent between December 2008 and September 2014, and Entergy's attorney said the company will be looking for considerably more money.

“In the first case, we got paid for the spent fuel pool racks and some Nuclear Regulatory Commission fees,” said L. Jager Smith, Jr, a Mississippi lawyer. “This time, we’ve built a dry field storage area.”

Most of these types of suits have prevailed, according to Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the commission. The Department of Energy, which is responsible for the storage of spent nuclear fuel, did not respond to a request for comment.

Currently about 3,300 radioactive spent fuel assemblies are being stored in a large pool at Pilgrim’s nuclear reactor. The pool was originally designed for about 800. Special racks were installed to accommodate the larger number, but the pool is now at capacity.

Within the next few weeks, 204 rod assemblies will be moved into three heavy concrete dry casks that will be stored outdoors on the site. The transfer, along with costs to prepare the site and install a concrete pad, totals $65 million.

There has been some public protest of the planned location of the casks, which environmental groups say is too close to Cape Cod Bay.

Entergy meanwhile blames the federal government for storage-related problems.

“The government has failed to perform its reciprocal obligation to dispose of spent nuclear fuel, and currently has no plan to meet these obligations,” Entergy lawyers wrote in court documents. “Entergy Nuclear Generation Co. has incurred and will continue to incur costs associated with procuring additional spent fuel storage capacity, and other damages, as a result of the government’s failure to comply with its contractual obligations.”

Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, has been eyed for a nuclear waste repository since 1987, but continued resistance from legislators in that state and environmental concerns have kept any plan from coming to fruition. The licensing process for the site halted in 2009 when funding was cut from the budget by Congress, at the urging of the Obama administration.

Follow Christine Legere on Twitter: @ChrisLegereCCT.

In 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ordered the licensing process to resume. Since then, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been working on a lengthy study of Yucca Mountain, but Sheehan said Monday his agency has exhausted all its funding. The report can’t be finished or the required hearings held until Congress authorizes more funds.

In any case, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission isn’t concerned over the current storage arrangement, based on the controversial “Waste Confidence Rule” it recently issued.

“We didn’t see any impediments to storing the material safely at the individual sites,” Sheehan said. “The casks would probably have to be replaced, but it could be stored on the sites for as long as 160 years.

Attorney Smith said Entergy currently has suits pending to recoup expenses for all its nuclear plants.

“We have 11 reactors on nine sites,” he said. “The Department of Energy is not performing, and we’re going to continue to pay.”

Smith predicted the Pilgrim court case would take no longer than 1 ½ years to settle, since it was assigned the same judge who handled the previous suit related to the plant.

Earlier this year, Entergy filed a similar suit over storage at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which recently shut down permanently. Storage of all the spent rods on that site will require 45 dry storage casks. Entergy was awarded $88 million in 2012 for an earlier Yankee-related suit over spent fuel storage.


http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20150105/NEWS/150109702/101015/NEWSLETTER100

Pilgrim Nuclear is the same age, same design as FUKUSHIMA.

There is NO EVACUATION PLAN!

Pilgrim to move spent fuel into dry casks

Three casks to be loaded by end of January onto a concrete pad 25 feet above sea level

Article | News | January 2, 2015 - 5:00pm | By Michael P. Norton, State House News Services

Nuclear plant operators in Plymouth plan to begin moving spent fuel into dry cask storage, part of a new campaign that officials say is needed to maintain room in spent fuel pools, conduct refueling operations, and continue safely generating electricity for the region.

Entergy Corporation, which runs the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, said Friday that its plans had been approved and would be monitored by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Plans call for three casks to be loaded at Pilgrim as part of a process that officials expect to be completed by the end of January.

According to plans, the casks will be kept within a "highly secure fenced in area in specialized containers placed on a concrete pad located 25 feet above sea level."

Entergy said the casks are "tested under rigorous engineering and safety criteria" and are designed "to withstand a variety of extreme scenarios, ranging from tornadoes, accidents and severe weather, to earthquakes and terrorist attacks."

Entergy called dry cask storage a "reliable and safe method for storing spent fuel using large, airtight steel and concrete canisters that provide structural strength and radiation shielding."

According to Entergy, more than 500 dry casks are in use in the U.S. Loaded casks weigh 360,000 pounds and each cask is 18 feet tall and 11 feet wide, see example of other installations on the right.

Below is an illustration of the dry casks from the NRC website.

http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2015/01/02/28368-pilgrim-move-spent-fuel-dry-casks

 

Pilgrim plant owner to begin moving radioactive fuel rods

 

A team of 50 to 60 radiation technicians, carpenters and laborers is ready to begin moving 204 radioactive spent fuel rod assemblies out of a pool on top of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station's reactor building and into three massive, concrete casks.

By Christine Legere
clegere@capecodonline.com
Posted Jan. 3, 2015 @ 3:00 am
 

PLYMOUTH — Entergy Corp. announced Friday that a team of 50 to 60 radiation technicians, carpenters and laborers is ready to begin moving 204 radioactive spent fuel rod assemblies out of a pool on top of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station's reactor building and into three massive, concrete casks.

The casks, 18 feet tall, 11 feet wide and weighing 360,000 pounds each, will then be relayed via a rail to an outdoor pad 25 feet above sea level.

The two-week procedure, estimated to cost the company $4 million, will provide enough room in the spent fuel pool at Pilgrim for the scheduled refueling of the reactor this spring. The pool currently contains about 3,300 spent fuel rod assemblies collected in the last 42 years.

David Noyes, the power plant's regulatory and performance director, described the loading process, saying a "multi-purpose canister" enclosed in a transfer cask will be lowered to the bottom of the spent fuel pool and loaded with 68 assemblies. Then the canister and cask are lifted and placed on the refueling floor, where a lid is secured. "The water is drained from the canister and replaced by helium," Noyes said. The transfer cask is then lowered from the roof, which is 117 feet above sea level, by a giant crane capable of holding 200 tons. The transfer cask is set on top of the final dry cask, and the multipurpose canister drops into the permanent cask, which is sealed.

Some radiation leakage is associated with the process, Noyes said. "Spent fuel has radiation associated with it," he said. "As the cask is lifted, it raises radiation levels on the refueling floor, but it's still within acceptable limits. There is no appreciable change in the radiation level at the site boundary."

All three casks are expected to be filled, sealed and in place on the outdoor pad by the end of the month. The total cost of the preparation work for the casks along with the coming transfer is $65 million, according to Entergy spokeswoman Lauren Burm.

Although there is a consensus that dry cask storage is safer than storage in fuel pools on top of the reactor building, the location of the dry cask storage pad at Pilgrim has been the subject of a local appeal by concerned residents, followed by a land court case. Plymouth's inspectional services department had allowed Entergy to do all the preparatory work for the casks without any review, saying the original permit granted to the utility covered the work.

Residents and area environmental groups appealed the decision to the town's zoning board, which upheld it. The residents then took the suit to land court, where it is pending.

Noyes said the court allowed Entergy to proceed with the dry cask transfer even though the case is not yet settled.

Pine duBois, executive director of the Jones River Watershed Association, has been a vocal opponent to the pad's location. "I think it's foolhardy that it's so close to the coast and exposed to the elements," duBois said Friday. "We think there's a high potential for damage to the environment and to the population if they store their waste there."

DuBois said she also was concerned about the transfer of the radioactive fuel rods to the casks. "I certainly don't have a level of confidence they're going to carry it off in a safe and secure manner and that it's being stored in a safe and secure manner."

Diane Turco, founder of the anti-Pilgrim watchdog group known as Cape Downwinders, said Entergy is only moving the rods to dry casks so it can keep operating. "This has nothing to do with safety; it has to do with profit," Turco said. "It's outrageous."




http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20150103/NEWS/150109843/101015/NEWSLETTER100

Residents: Pilgrim waste hurts property values

Interesting approach by anti-nuclear activists:

Residents: Pilgrim waste hurts property values

By CHRIS BURRELL

THE PATRIOT LEDGER

August 28, 2014

 

PLYMOUTH — Encouraged by a decision in the Massachusetts Land Court, anti-nuclear activists are forging ahead with a lawsuit, arguing that the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth and its storage of spent nuclear fuel have hurt property values in the area.

 

The plaintiffs — 11 residents who live within 2 miles of the 685-megawatt nuclear power plant owned by Louisiana-based Entergy Corp. — are challenging Entergy and the Plymouth officials who approved a permit for the company to build concrete pads for storing nuclear waste in concrete casks.

Related Links

• Read more about Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

 

"A project that has these threats and dangers and such a huge impact on the community should be subject to the highest level of oversight by local boards," said Meg Sheehan, a Cambridge lawyer representing the residents.

 

Sheehan said that Plymouth's building inspector and zoning board wrongly approved the building permit for Pilgrim and should have required a special permitting process and a public hearing.

 

Two weeks ago, the land court allowed part of the case to move forward, deciding that the nearby residents of the nuclear power plant offered sufficient evidence that the new dry cask nuclear storage system planned at Pilgrim will harm their property values.

 

"Potential buyers are and will be dissuaded from purchasing real estate such as mine that is very close to Pilgrim, because now, not only would they be purchasing a home very near an operating nuclear plant, but also very near a long-term nuclear waste dump," plaintiff Frederick Paris stated in his affidavit.

 

An Entergy spokesman said Tuesday he could not comment on the case in land court, but he said that Entergy is running trials in preparation for transferring spent nuclear fuel from pools to dry casks later this year or early in 2015.

 

"Sometime this fall, we will have final approvals in place to begin the actual undertaking," said Jerry Nappi, an Entergy spokesman in White Plains, New York.

 

According to the land court document, Entergy agreed not to begin transferring any spent fuel until after Oct. 31.

 

Entergy is running out of space for spent fuel at Pilgrim and plans to transfer about six percent of it — 68 fuel assemblies — into three concrete casks.

 

Pilgrim nuclear power plant currently stores more than 500 metric tons of spent fuel in deep pools.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said there is no trial date scheduled yet in land court.

 

The land court rejected claims by plaintiffs in the case who had argued for a voice in local permitting based on environmental and health concerns stemming from Pilgrim.

 

"I used to observe a healthy population of starfish, sand dollars and horseshoe crabs along White Horse Beach," wrote plaintiff Christine Bostek in an affidavit. "There are now virtually no fish to be had in the near shore of Cape Cod Bay around White Horse Beach."

 

Bostek and others argued that "a thermal plume of pollution covers about five square miles" around the nuclear power plant.

 

But the land court sided with Entergy lawyers that such claims were "not special and different from the concerns of the rest of the community."

 

Email Chris Burrell at cburrell@ledger.com or follow on Twitter @Burrell_Ledger.

 

 

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140828/NEWS/408280304/-1/NEWSLETTER100

 

 

Pilgrim nuclear plant's spent rods will stay in place

Pilgrim nuclear plant's spent rods will stay in place

By CHRISTINE LEGERE

clegere@capecodonline.com

May 28, 2014

 

PLYMOUTH — Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station's glut of spent fuel rods won't be moved into more stable dry cask storage anytime soon.

 

Four out of five members on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted Tuesday to end further consideration of a plan to expedite transfer of radioactive spent fuel rods from cooling pools to dry casks in plants across the country.

Related Links

• Related Times stories on the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

NRC Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane cast the sole vote in opposition, saying the issue warranted further study.

 

The vote was part of the NRC's review of the post-Fukushima study conducted by its staff. The staff's overall conclusion had been that expedited transfer of the rods to casks was not necessary since pools would likely withstand earthquakes without leaking.

 

"The staff has not properly explored all potential initiating events — in this case only considering seismic initiators," Macfarlane wrote in a narrative accompanying her vote.

 

A plan to store spent rods from all the nation's reactors in a permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, after years of debate, was abandoned in 2010 and another storage location has yet to be identified.

 

Meanwhile the country's 100 nuclear power plant licensees have stored spent fuel on site. When spent fuel is removed from a nuclear reactor, it produces both heat and radiation for several years. The fuel assemblies must cool in pools for five to seven years, but frequently they remain there for a much longer time.

 

Studies by nuclear experts have shown even partial loss of water in spent fuel pools could result in a fire and release of radiation.

 

Diane Turco, a Harwich resident and founder of the Cape Downwinders, expressed frustration over the NRC vote. "Once again, the NRC votes to support profits for the nuclear industry over glaring public safety issues of the densely packed spent fuel pools that are an imminent danger to the public," Turco said.

 

The commission's vote prompted an angry response from U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who just last week filed a bill with fellow Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that would give plant owners 180 days to put together plans for moving spent fuel rods from wet pools to dry casks.

 

Operators would then have seven years to complete the transfer.

 

"Overcrowded spent fuel pools are a disaster waiting to happen," said Markey in a written statement Tuesday. "Experts agree an accident at one of these pools could result in damage as bad as that caused by an accident at an operating nuclear reactor."

 

Markey pointed out that Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth has about four times the number of spent fuel assemblies in its cooling pool than the unit was designed to hold.

 

The pool was constructed for 880 assemblies and currently holds about 3,200.

 

"It is time for the NRC to post the 'Danger' sign outside the fuel pools and begin to swiftly move spent fuel to safer storage now before a disaster occurs," Markey wrote.

 

Mary Lampert, a Duxbury resident and founder of Pilgrim Watch, said her group is "in a rage" over the NRC vote.

 

Lampert noted there is ample scientific evidence to prove the dangers of over-crowded fuel pools.

 

"Sen. Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) testified that it would be a cinch to fly a plane into the fuel pool at Pilgrim and then the game would be over," Lampert said. "The question is when and the question is where the next accident will be. Pilgrim is a good one to bet on because of the spent fuel pools."

 

The Union of Concerned Scientists has long warned of the danger of long-term storage of spent fuel in pools. Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist with the UCS Global Security Program, called the NRC vote Tuesday "deeply disappointing" and "shortsighted."

 

Lyman noted that Macfarlane, in her narrative accompanying her vote, said the NRC staff study had shown that reducing the density of spent fuel in a pool at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, "would lower the human health consequences of a zirconium fire by more than a factor of 10, the number of individuals who may have to abandon their homes by a factor of 50, and the

economic cost by $100 billion."

 

"In our view, the evidence is crystal clear," Lyman said in a written statement. "Reducing the density of spent fuel in pools by expeditiously transferring spent fuel to safer, dry storage casks would greatly reduce the chance that a massive amount of highly radioactive material gets into the environment."

 

Markey spokeswoman Giselle Barry said the senator remains "strongly committed to moving the bill forward and will continue to work, despite NRC opposition, to move spent fuel into dry cask storage."

 

"There is a legislative push to do so," Barry said.

 

 

 

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140528/NEWS/405280317/-1/NEWSLETTER100

Plymouth's Fukushima!

Bill calls for dry storage of spent nuke reactor fuel rods

 

 

By CHRISTINE LEGERE

clegere@capecodonline.com

May 14, 2014

 

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., joined fellow Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Tuesday in filing three bills to improve safety and security at decommissioned nuclear reactors, and to ensure safe storage of spent fuel rods at sites across the country.

 

When spent fuel is removed from an electricity-producing reactor, it gives off heat and radiation for several years. The fuel assemblies must be placed into pools for five to seven years to cool, but frequently they remain there for a much longer time.

Related Stories

• Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station powering down for repairs

Related Links

• Related Times stories on the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

MORE ONLINE

For the Times' continuing coverage of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, visit capecodonline.com/pilgrimnuclear.

 

A plan to store spent rods from all the nation's reactors in a permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada fell through long ago, and another storage location has yet to be identified. That has left the country's 100 nuclear power plant licensees with the responsibility of storing spent fuel on-site.

 

The 42-year-old Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth stores about 3,500 highly radioactive spent fuel assemblies in a pool on the upper level of a building outside its reactor. The pool was initially designed for 880 rods.

 

Studies by nuclear experts have shown even partial loss of water in the spent fuel pools could result in a fire and release of radiation into the area.

 

The Dry Cask Storage Act of 2014 would require reactor operators to submit, within 180 days of the bill's enactment, plans for moving spent fuel rods from wet pools into dry casks, which is considered a safer method of storage, according to Markey's announcement. Operators would have seven years from the date they submit those plans to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get the spent fuel into casks.

 

The bill would provide funding to help licensees implement the plans. Any plant that fails to comply with the law would have the 10-mile emergency planning zone around its operation expanded to 50 miles. All costs associated with the expansion of the emergency zone would be borne by the licensee.

 

"Nuclear reactors such as Pilgrim house spent fuel that could be at major risk of experiencing radioactive releases, fires and widespread contamination," Markey said in an email to the Times.

 

"Pilgrim already contains nearly four times more radioactive waste than it was designed to hold.

 

Communities neighboring Pilgrim and nuclear reactors around the country should have the peace of mind that the nuclear waste will be moved to safer storage to avoid the worst consequences if a nuclear disaster occurs."

 

Duxbury resident Mary Lampert, founder of Pilgrim Watch, said she is pleased that senators from both sides of the country are working together on solutions for nuclear power plants.

 

"We know spent fuel will be on the shores of Cape Cod Bay until my grandchildren are my age," Lampert said. "That presents a safety risk, as well as an economic risk."

 

The senators' second bill, called the Safe and Secure Decommissioning Act of 2014, would prohibit the NRC from issuing exemptions from its emergency response or security requirements at reactors that have shut down, until all spent nuclear fuel stored on the site had been moved to dry casks.

 

According to the statement released by Markey's office, the NRC "has granted every request from emergency response requirements that it has ever received from a licensee of a decommissioning reactor."

 

Lampert said it is important to maintain up-to-date emergency response plans, as well as security, while pools of radioactive rods remain on site.

 

"When the plants shut their doors, owners apply for less emergency planning," Lampert said.

 

"Without planning, we do not have an assurance anyone would get out of Dodge in time."

 

The third bill, called the Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of 2014, would ensure that states and communities have a role in development of decommissioning plans for nuclear reactors in their areas, through a public review process, Markey's office announced.

 

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140514/NEWS/405140329/-1/NEWSLETTER100

 

 

 

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station powering down for repairs

 

By CAPE COD TIMES

May 14, 2014

 

PLYMOUTH — Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station officials are powering down the reactor to do some repairs, a spokesman for the plant announced Tuesday night.

 

"After careful consideration we made the conservative decision to take Pilgrim off-line to perform necessary maintenance to address low-level equipment needs that could potentially challenge reliability for the remainder of the operating cycle," spokeswoman Joyce McMahon said in an email.

Related Stories

• Bill calls for dry storage of spent nuke reactor fuel rods

Related Links

• Related Times stories on the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

 

The timing of the outage had been planned in advance after a discussion with grid operator ISO-New England.

 

"Pilgrim's power is vital to the grid," McMahon said. "ISO-NE asked us to schedule maintenance at this time so Pilgrim can provide power during other power plants' scheduled maintenance outages as well as during the coming peak summer demand."

 

Maintenance will be done on piping, valves, pump seals and electrical equipment. "This maintenance will directly support increased reliability for the rest of our operating cycle, which ends with the next scheduled refueling in mid-2015," McMahon said.

 

CHRISTINE LEGERE

 

 

 

 

Webinar to cover use of dry cask storage at Plymouth nuclear plant

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to host Pilgrim webinar on December 12

Webinar to cover use of dry cask storage at Plymouth nuclear plant

Article | News | December 3, 2013 - 7:00am | By CapeCodToday Staff

 

Dry cask storage at Entergy's James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant on Lake Ontario. Entergy photo.
 

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant webinar on Thursday, December 12 at 3 p.m. The webinar will offer information about dry cask storage and how it is regulated, according to an NRC release.

The webinar has been planned in response to questions posed by residents of Plymouth and beyond about the onsite storage of spent nuclear fuel, according to Bill Dean, Administrator of the NRC Region I Office.

Entergy, the owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant, is preparing a concrete pad to hold dry cask storage units, according to the NRC release. The pad should be ready by summer 2014, NRC said.

According to Entergy, although dry cask storage has yet to be used at Pilgrim, it has been in use at other nuclear facilities across the country since 1986. Currently, there are 69 dry fuel sites in the US, with 11 under construction, according to an information provided by Entergy here. The dry casks are 18 feet tall and 11 feet wide and weigh 360,000 lbs. They can sustain 360 mph tornados and withstand flooding, according to Entergy.

Online registration is required to participate in the webinar. Participants will be able ask NRC staff questions in writing via a webpage during the online presentation.

Sign up for the webinar here.


http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2013/12/03/23013-us-nuclear-regulatory-commission-host-pilgrim-webinar-december-12