The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Aug. 16 that it has completed its inspection of the dry cask storage facilities at Entergy’s retired Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and found no significant safety concerns.
The NRC in May and June inspected work on the second independent spent fuel storage installation being built at the plant. Inspectors observed pad construction and loading of dry casks that will hold the used fuel, conducted interviews with Entergy officials, and reviewed records and procedures.
No findings of safety significance were found. “We have a standardized approach when it comes to reviewing new dry cask storage pads, including such areas as the spacing of the rebar and the strength of the concrete,” NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Friday.
In December 2015, Entergy indicated it expected to spend $145 million on a project to transfer 3,000 spent fuel assemblies into dry casks by the end of 2020. That funding covered construction of a second storage pad, acquiring the casks, and moving the fuel to dry storage. Since then, the power provider has expedited the process to the point where moving the fuel to dry storage should be finished by the end of 2018.
According to Entergy, there are 13 casks on the first ISFSI pad from the previous fuel loading campaigns. Eight more casks have been placed on the pad placed during the current fuel move campaign.
Entergy closed Vermont Yankee at the end of 2014 and in November 2016 announced plans to sell the plant to New York City-based decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group Services. The companies hope to close the sale by the end of 2018, pending approval from the NRC and Vermont Public Utility Commission.
