NorthStar Group Services on Monday told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission it will have sufficient funds to both decommission the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and manage its spent fuel.
The New York City company was responding to the agency’s latest request for additional information as it reviews the application to transfer the NRC license for Vermont Yankee from owner Entergy to prospective buyer NorthStar. The regulator in April had specifically asked for data demonstrating NorthStar has both sufficient financing and qualifications to decommission the plant upon assuming ownership.
In a letter to the NRC, NorthStar President and CEO Scott State said an attached cash flow analysis “demonstrates there is a reasonable assurance of funding to complete all license termination activities, even when setting aside $20 million for spent fuel management.”
The cash flow analysis shows the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund at over $513 million in fiscal 2019. The fund would transfer to NorthStar once the sale is sealed; the company would spend the bulk of it on license termination operations and spent fuel management from 2019 to 2026, the year at which it believes it can complete decommissioning. About $31.5 million would be left at that point, but the trust would actually grow afterward through interest earnings while NorthStar is not spending any money – up to over $51 million as of 2051.
That model assumes NorthStar receives no money from the federal government to compensate for the Department of Energy’s failure to meet its legal mandate to remove spent fuel from U.S. nuclear reactors. A separate analysis incorporating DOE payments ends with the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust at nearly $85 million as of 2053.
The letter “conservatively” assumes Vermont Yankee’s used nuclear fuel will be stored next to the site until 2052. The cost analyses show a $3.5 million withdrawal that year.
The NRC will now review State’s letter and accompanying documents to see if the federal agency’s concerns are addressed.
Entergy wants by the end of this year to sell Vermont Yankee to NorthStar for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management. Both the NRC and Vermont Public Utility Commission must approve the sale.
EnergySolutions said Monday it has promoted the head of its nuclear decommissioning business to president and CEO.
Ken Robuck will officially replace David Lockwood on June 30, according to a press release from the Salt Lake City-based nuclear services provider. Lockwood will stay on as executive chairman.
Robuck joined EnergySolutions in August 2013 as senior vice president of business development, according to his Bloomberg biography. He advanced to the position of president of logistics, processing, and disposal later that year and in April 2016 became president of the disposal and nuclear decommissioning business.
Prior to joining EnergySolutions, Robuck held senior executive positions at Williams Industrial Services, Alberici Constructors, and Williams Power Corp.
In the release, Lockwood praised Robuck for securing EnergySolutions’ $1 billion contract with partner AECOM in 2016 for decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego County, Calif. He also has overseen dismantlement of the Zion nuclear power plant in Illinois, which is expected to be completed this year.
“I am confident Ken will take our company forward in the years ahead as we continue to build on our success as the leader in nuclear decommissioning,” Lockwood stated. “I look forward to my role as Executive Chairman in supporting Ken’s leadership of our company.”
Lockwood has been chief executive at EnergySolutions since July 2012, after holding CEO positions at Liberate Technologies, a provider of software and hardware to satellite and cable companies, and digital rights management company Intertrust. He previously worked in the financial services industry at Goldman Sachs and Valueact Capital, his EnergySolutions biography says.
EnergySolutions is currently not discussing the leadership change beyond what is in its press release, spokesman Mark Walker said Monday.
Along with nuclear decommissioning, the company provides radioactive waste transport, processing, and disposal services. It operates two of the four active low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: at Clive, Utah, and Barnwell, S.C.
New Jersey on Wednesday joined New York state and Illinois in offering zero-emission credits to prevent closure of nuclear power plants.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday signed Senate Bill 2313, which will make credits available to nuclear facilities that can show they significantly benefit the state’s air quality and could be forced to close within three years if they do not receive assistance.
New Jersey has three nuclear power plants: the single-reactor Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, which owner Exelon has said will close in October; and the one-reactor Hope Creek and two-reactor Salem nuclear plants, located on the same property and operated by PSEG Nuclear.
In a press release, Exelon commended Murphy for signing the law but offered no indication it would reassess its plant o close Oyster Creek. “Exelon Generation will permanently shut down Oyster Creek later this year, at the end of its current operating cycle,” spokeswoman Suzanne D’Ambrosio said by email. “As part of an agreement with the State of New Jersey, Exelon is required to close Oyster Creek by December 2019.”
Like a number of nuclear power providers in recent years, Exelon said low wholesale power prices and other economic challenges are forcing the closure of Oyster Creek. In February, it moved up the closure date from the December 2019 date previously agreed upon with the state, partly to avoid a refueling outage next fall.
PSEG did not responsd to a request for comment Wednesday on whether it would apply for the credits.
The zero-emissions credit program is expected to cost New Jersey $300 million annually, Reuters reported.
Nuclear power plants have 210 days from Wednesday to apply for zero-emissions credits, which would be based on “the fuel diversity, air quality, and other environmental attributes of one megawatt-hour of electricity generated by an eligible nuclear power plant.” Electric utilities could then purchase credits from the plants.
Among the requirements for receiving credits, an applicant would be required, upon request, to provide the state Board of Public Utilities with financial data on the power facility, including the cost of spent fuel management.
Murphy on Wednesday inked separate legislation to boost renewable energy in the state. A separate executive order would also require preparation of an updated plan under which New Jersey would solely use clean energy sources by 2050.
The decades-long failure to establish a route for permanent disposal of U.S. spent nuclear reactor fuel could undermine industry efforts to expand nuclear power around the nation, the Congressional Research Service said in a recent report.
A number of nuclear power plants have shut down in recent years, or announced their near-term closure, in the face of economic challenges including low natural gas prices for energy production. The industry has sought to counter this trend with development of new reactor technologies that are cheaper to build and operate.
“Disposal of radioactive waste will be a key issue in the continuing nuclear power debate. Without a national waste management system, spent fuel from nuclear power plants must be stored on-site indefinitely,” according to the May 9 analysis on civilian nuclear waste disposal from Congressional Research Service energy policy specialist Mark Holt. “This situation may raise public concern near proposed reactor sites, particularly at sites without existing reactors where spent nuclear fuel is already stored.”
The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act gave the Department of Energy until Jan. 31, 1998, to begin accepting used fuel from nuclear power plants. As members of Congress have pointed out repeatedly this year, the 20th anniversary of that deadline passed without any progress on that mandate.
The nation’s nuclear power facilities, both retired and operational, now store 78,000 metric tons of spent fuel, the report says. The federal government as of fiscal 2016 had paid out roughly $6.1 billion in payments and court judgments for failing to meet its mandate to remove spent fuel from utilities. The Energy Department says its liability could exceed $30 billion, according to the CRS report.
The report discusses at length both historic and ongoing efforts to deal with the nuclear waste, including the Trump administration’s efforts to revive the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada.
From The Wires
From the Denton Record-Chronicle: U.S. Radiopharmaceuticals appeals Texas judge’s ruling on license application and cleanup of low-level radioactive waste.
From The Plain Dealer: Environmental groups ask federal judge overseeing FirstEnergy Solutions bankruptcy to allow them to continue pressing request before Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the company’s funding for decommissioning of three nuclear power plants scheduled for closure.
From Reuters: PJM Interconnection power grid capacity auction can’t stave off closure of nuclear power plants operated by FirstEnergy and Exelon, analysts say.
