The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) this month formally determined that the site of the now-decommissioned Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) can be released for unrestricted use.
Contractor EnergySolutions completed decommissioning the facility in April. While the University of Arkansas owns the reactor site, the work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Department of Health staff reviewed the final status survey report for SEFOR and conducted on-site surveys, according to a June 3 letter from Jared Thompson, manager of the state agency’s Radioactive Materials Program, to Michael Johnson, associate vice chancellor for university facilities management. An independent laboratory also analyzed soil samples for remaining radioactive contamination.
“It was determined that the site does not have residual radioactive material in excess of the ADH’s unrestricted release guidelines,” Thompson wrote.
The state has specifically found that residual radioactivity that can be differentiated from background radiation would generate an annual total dose effective equivalent of no more than 25 millirem, according to Thompson. Cleanup at the property has dropped radioactive contamination levels to the lowest reasonable levels, he added.
The 600-acre site in Washington County is thus made available for other use and removed from its state license for possession and use of radioactive materials, the Health Department official said. The university has not determined how it will use the property, a spokesman said.
The 1960s-era reactor was initially used by a set of utilities to collect data regarding the design and operation of commercial-scale sodium-cooled nuclear reactors. The university acquired the plant in 1975, but only operated it for a year for calibration and testing of nuclear gear. The reactor was placed into safe-storage mode, with the Energy Department assuming responsibility for decommissioning under the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
Starting in 2010, the $25 million decommissioning occurred in phases as federal funding was made available.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Wednesday reintroduced legislation that would provide a financial boost for communities that are home to retired nuclear power plants stuck with used nuclear fuel.
The Sensible, Timely Relief for America’s Nuclear Districts’ Economic Development (STRANDED) Act is a redo of separate pieces of legislation that Duckworth and Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) filed in 2017 during the last Congress. Neither of those bills made it out of committee.
Like the earlier bills, Duckworth’s new legislation would require the Department of Energy to establish a noncompetitive grant program under which local governments would receive $15 per kilogram of spent fuel stored on-site at eligible power plants.
The text of the new measure was not immediately available. The 2017 version applied to used fuel in wet or dry storage at nuclear facilities that had been decommissioned or were undergoing decommissioning. An eligible local government could receive one grant in each fiscal year.
The STRANDED Act also again calls for a task force to find current financial resources to support impacted communities and would establish a competitive grant program for localities to identify alternatives to nuclear, generating, and waste sites, according to a Duckworth press release.
Owners of retired nuclear sites generally pay lower property taxes. But the remaining spent fuel limits redevelopment opportunities for the properties.
The Energy Department, under a 1982 law, was legally required to begin taking used fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants for disposal by Jan. 31, 1998. That has yet to happen.
In the release, Duckworth highlighted the Zion nuclear power plant in her state. The facility shut down in 1998, and decommissioning is scheduled for completion next year. The city of Zion could receive a $15.3 million grant payment, for the 1,020 metric tons of used fuel that remains housed at the site.
“Communities like Zion have been forced to house this waste without consent or compensation for decades, despite the significant negative impact to their local economies,” Duckworth said in the release. “Since the federal government has failed to open a permanent repository and it could take years to move the waste after one is agreed upon, the STRANDED Act focuses on helping affected areas around the country that are currently facing hardship. Zion can’t wait any longer.”
The STRANDED Act has five co-sponsors: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Angus King (I-Maine), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). All the lawmakers represent states with retired nuclear plants.
The bill was referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
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