Power reactor decommissioning news at nuclear.com

Conn Yankee's reactor vessel shipment to Barnwell has had some, uh, challenges. The barge was, well, stranded on the Savannah River. Low river level made the planned method of transfer from barge to highway problemmatic. Earlier this week, an attempt to move the 820-ton reactor vessel failed. The company has a rush order for new wheels and axles for the heavy duty tractor trailer, to replace the ones broken in the attempt. The Army Corps of Engineers was called on to pump water from Thurmond Lake Dam to lift the barge-bound steel vessel high enough to be lifted by crane onto land. This will be the fifth decommissioned vessel to be buried at the state-owned site managed by Chem Nuclear. The burial site fee: about $5 million.

[Ref: Jim Nesbitt (Chronicle's SC bureau chief), "Stranded barge: Corps to stage reactor rescue", The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia), January 2, 2004, p. B2]

January 1, 2004

CY reactor vessel shipment problems: axles broke; Corps lowered river level

The reactor was raised by hydraulic lifts Tuesday and placed on a trailer but couldn't be taken off the barge because two of the double-wide trailer's 16 axles broke, said Kelley Smith, a spokeswoman for Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co. Even if the trailer's axles had remained intact, the reactor couldn't have been moved. The Army Corps of Engineers lowered the Savannah River on Wednesday, making it unsafe to unload the reactor, Ms. Smith said. She said the back end of the barge might have touched the river's bottom. "They do things very conservatively," Ms. Smith said of the engineering crew moving the reactor. "It really just has to do with making sure that equipment is in the right working condition, and not rushing," said Henry Porter, the assistant director of waste management for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. "Delays in moving (reactors) are not unusual."

[Ref: Josh Gelinas (Chronicle SC bureau), "Vessel awaits its last route", The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia),ÊJanuary 1, 2004, p. B2]

December 30, 2003

Reactor vessel transport over roads - 1 mph, reinforced bridges, wide turn intersection

The trailer carrying the ... 820-ton ... reactor [about 22 miles at a speed of about 1 mph] has 16 axles and 256 tires, according to the South Carolina Department of Transportation. As the load snakes across the [Savannah River] site, officials will erect reinforced bridges next to existing ones at two locations to allow passage, said Kelley Smith, a spokeswoman for Connecticut Yankee. Once outside SRS's gates, the reactor will travel another 3/4-mile to Chem Nuclear along South Carolina Highway 64, accompanied by an SCDOT engineer and a safety official from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The reactor will travel half of the home stretch atop the state highway before turning onto Chem Nuclear property and a dirt road. To make the turn, officials have to fill in a culvert with rocks and cover it with a steel plate, an SCDOT official said.

[Ref: Josh Gelinas (Chronicle SC bureau), "Reactor faces slow trip to Chem Nuclear", The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia),ÊDecember 30, 2003, p. B2 (registration required)]

December 27, 2003

Reactor vessels should be entombed at plant site, not shipped to burial sites, sez Greenpeace

Instead of being shipped to Barnwell or other disposal sites, Mr. Clements said [Tom Clements, an activist for the Greenpeace International environmental organization], the decommissioned reactors should be entombed in the same place where they generated electricity. Of the 28 decommissioned reactors in the United States, only three have been entombed on site, according to a report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

[Ref: Karen Ethridge and Jim Nesbitt (Chronicle SC bureau), "Reactor inches closer to dock", The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia),ÊDecember 27, 2003, p. A1 (registration required)]

December 11, 2003

Conn Yankee decommissioning cost estimate raised again

In 2000, Conn Yankee projected that decommissioning the plant would cost $410-million. In November 2002, the estimate was increased by $140-million, due to increased security and insurance costs related to the 9-11 attack. Now, the company is preparing to raise the estimate to $820-million. A delay in removing the reactor vessel back in 2000 also delayed other work. The contractor, Bechtel, lost its contract over the problems. Legal claims as to whether CY or Bechtel are liable for the delays and extra costs are being heard in Middlesex County Superior Court.

[Ref: Maureen Conley (Platts-Washington), "Decommissioning costs expected to increase at Connecticut Yankee", Nucleonics Week,ÊDecember 11, 2003,Êp. 3]

August 22, 2003

Decommissioning funds for ISFSI

Upon learning that Humboldt Bay decommissioning funds were being used for the design and licensing of a dry cask independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI), NRC inspectors questioned how ISFSI design and licensing expenditures from the decommissioning fund are related to regulation 10 CFR 50.54(bb), which requires licensee to provide a program for funding and management of spent fuel until possession of the fuel is transferred to the Department of Energy. Plant representative explained that it had chosen to accumulate funding for its ISFSI design and licensing as part of the decommissioning trust fund and that its 10 CFR 50.54(bb) program was documented in a letter to the NRC dated September 26, 2000 (PG&E letter HBL-00-016).

A conference call involving the NRC inspectors, NRC headquarters staff, NRC regional staff, and PG&E representatives was held on July 31, 2003, to obtain additional information on the licenseeÕs 10 CFR 50.54(bb) spent fuel funding and management program and use of decommissioning funds for ISFSI design and licensing activities. It was noted during the call that regulatory statements of consideration do not prohibit co-mingling of ISFSI and decommissioning funds, provided assurance exists that sufficient funding for both activities remain and that accounting mechanisms are employed to ensure that funds for each type of activity are appropriately identified.

As a result of the discussion during the July 31, 2003, conference call, the NRC staff and inspectors concluded that the licenseeÕs use of the decommissioning fund for ISFSI design and licensing was consistent with the licenseeÕs 10 CFR 50.54(bb) program as described in PG&EÕs letter dated September 26, 2000. The NRC acknowledged during this call that it owes a response to the September 26, 2000, PG&E letter.

Conclusion: The use of the decommissioning fund for ISFSI design and licensing was appropriate based on the licenseeÕs 10 CFR 50.54(bb) program as described in a PG&E letter to the NRC dated September 26, 2000. [Ref: NRC inspection report 50-133-2003-2]

August 14, 2003

* Decommissioning Strategies Implemented in USA - an overview by NRC's Dominick A. Orlando

May 23, 2003

* Maine Yankee's Reactor Vessel's Barge Stuck in High River Water near Savannah

May 16, 2003

Rancho Seco plant site to be put to good use

The "Capital to Capital" Washington junket this month pushed Sacramento one step closer to becoming a national training center for cops. "We made real progress in talks with the people in Washington," said Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters. Sacramento County Sheriff Louie Blanas and Sacramento City Manager Bob Thomas joined Waters in lobbying California congressional reps to open a training facility like the FBI's Quantico, Va., academy in Sacramento. "It looks like the first site will be McClellan Field," Robbie said. "Eventually the academy would move to the old Rancho Seco nuclear plant. There's an obvious need for a West Coast training facility. Our people in Washington say we're way ahead of other cities on this." If the Sacramento facility is anything like Quantico, it will be a big deal. The FBI academy plays host to hundreds of cops from around the country. They all spend money during their training in Virginia. ... [Source: R.E. Graswich (Bee Staff Writer) "Capped off", Sacramento Bee, May 16, 2003]

* Barge Route to Barnwell for Reactor Vessel - Feds Allow Docking at Savannah River Site