U.S.
In a significant decommissioning milestone, EnergySolutions subsidiary ZionSolutions announced Tuesday that it had removed the last remaining large components from the Zion Nuclear Power Station in Illinois.
The large components – which include the steam generators, pressurizers, piping components, reactor coolant pumps, and motors – also have been prepared for shipment and final disposition. Tuesday’s press release said this is the first time that two nuclear units at the same plant have been safely dismantled at the same time. The Illinois facility, which retired in 1998, is on schedule and within budget for decommissioning completion in 2018.
“This is a major milestone in the decommissioning of the Zion Nuclear Power Station and we are extremely proud of our employees for the safe and efficient job they have done in removing the large components from the plant,” EnergySolutions President of Logistics, Processing, and Disposal Ken Robuck said in the statement. “In safely completing this portion of the project more than 98 percent of all the radioactive source term of the Zion plant has now been removed from the plant and safely disposed of or placed into dry storage on site, a major accomplishment for this project.”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has about $1.7 million in remaining unobligated funds from the Nuclear Waste Fund, according to the agency’s most recent numbers.
This money represents NRC funding for the license application review of the national repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The numbers were included in a March 17 letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), which was released publicly late last week. The $1.7 million amount represents the remaining balance as of Feb. 29.
In August 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit directed NRC to “promptly continue with the legally mandated licensing process” for the Department of Energy’s application to construct a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. According to the latest financial report, NRC has spent $11.3 million on the effort since the court decision. The agency is expected to spend the remaining funds on the supplemental environmental impact statement for a groundwater study at Yucca, expected this spring, and the publication of Yucca licensing documents.
