The Omaha, Neb., Public Power District (OPPD) on Monday announced it had hired nuclear services firm EnergySolutions to support decommissioning of the retired Fort Calhoun Station power plant.
EnergySolutions will provide “technical and specialized project expertise,” while OPPD personnel will manage the overall decommissioning, according to a press release from the utility.
“ES brings a depth of knowledge regarding the process to decommission the site safely and successfully,” OPPD spokesman Cris Averett said by email Wednesday. “Roles are still in development in these early stages, but we project ES will provide targeted technical advising and project management support on things like component dismantlement, while OPPD provides support in areas such as maintenance, security, radiological controls, engineering, regulatory compliance, and project management in support of the deconstruction work.”
Specific staffing levels and organizational plans have not been finalized, he said.
The utility did not release the value of the contract.
The pressurized water reactor facility 19 miles outside of Omaha closed in October 2016 after more than 43 years of service. The Omaha Public Power District initially placed the plant into SAFSTOR mode, under which full decommissioning can be delayed for up to six decades. But last fall OPPD decided to shift to active decommissioning, which it says should save $200 million and shave decades off the project timeline.
Under SAFSTOR, decommissioning was due to be completed around 2066. That is now anticipated by the mid-2020s, OPPD said Monday. In a presentation to the OPPD Board of Directors last September, staff placed the end date at around 2028.
Under SAFSTOR, OPPD estimated the total cost for termination of the site’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission license, site restoration, and spent fuel management at $1.295 billion in current-year dollars. The projection for active decommissioning was $1.083 billion, according to the September presentation.
The decommissioning cost estimate for Fort Calhoun will be updated in coming months, as OPPD prepares to officially inform the NRC that it is switching from SAFSTOR to active decommissioning, Averett said. That figure will cover decommissioning and spent fuel management.
At the end of 2018, OPPD had roughly $465 million in its decommissioning trust for the power plant.
Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions was already providing decommissioning and radiological waste management services for Fort Calhoun. It will now expand its on-site and off-site assistance, the press release says.
“We appreciate the confidence OPPD has in EnergySolutions to work with the Fort Calhoun workforce to safely decommission the facility,” EnergySolutions President and CEO Ken Robuck said in the company’s own announcement. “We are confident this partnership will have tremendous success in safely decommissioning the facility on budget and schedule.”
EnergySolutions recently completed decommissioning of the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) in Arkansas and is continuing cleanup of the Zion power plant in Illinois and the La Crosse facility in Wisconsin. It is expected, in partnership with AECOM, to this year begin primary decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California.
