The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the license of Honeywell’s Metropolis Works uranium source conversion plant in Illinois for 40 years.
The license now expires on March 24, 2060, according to an April 15 notice in the Federal Register.
Metropolis Works has been largely idled since November 2017, due to an oversupply in the product it supplies to the nuclear industry — uranium hexafluoride (UF6). When operational, the plant is the sole U.S. facility for conversion of uranium ore into UF6 for production of enriched uranium fuel for nuclear power plants.
Honeywell submitted its license renewal application to the NRC in February 2017, requesting continued authorization to hold and employ radiological source material and sources used in gauges as part of its conversion operation. No outside organization requested a hearing on the application, according to the Federal Register notice. The regulator issued its environmental evaluation of the application last October, finding it would generate no significant impact.
