At the end of the last federal fiscal year on Sept. 30, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was overseeing decommissioning of 23 nuclear power and early demonstration reactors.
Of those reactors, 11 were undergoing active decommissioning and the remaining 12 were in SAFSTOR, or safe storage, in which final cleanup can be delayed for up to 60 years, according to the agency’s 2019 report on its decommissioning program.
Also in decommissioning or SAFSTOR were three research and test reactors, 12 complex materials facilities, five Title II uranium recovery facilities, and sections of one fuel cycle site, the report says.
During fiscal 2019, NRC staff approved license transfers that enabled the sale of three retired nuclear power plants to new owners that accepted full responsibility for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management on the properties. They were: the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, from Entergy to NorthStar Group Services; the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey, from Exelon to Holtec International; and the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, from Entergy to Holtec.
Last May, agency staff also signed off on the license termination plan for the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor in Wisconsin, then in September OK’d the license transfer from decommissioning provider EnergySolutions back to plant owner Dairyland Power Cooperative. The Salt Lake City-based nuclear services firm in November announced the completion of decommissioning.
Completion of decommissioning and license termination are expected in the current fiscal 2020 at the Humboldt Bay plant in California and the two reactors at the Zion facility in Illinois, the NRC said. Another eight reactors are expected to be retired no later than 2025: Duane Arnold in Iowa in 2020; Indian Point reactor Units 2 and 3 in New York state, respectively in 2020 and 2021; Beaver Valley Units 1 and 2 in Pennsylvania, respectively in 2021 and 2022; Palisades in Michigan in 2022; and Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 in California, respectively in 2024 and 2025.
