U.S.
A representative for Battelle Memorial Institute said Thursday he is “eternally optimistic” the company will submit a zoning application to Spink County, N.D., for its proposed deep borehole nuclear wast storage field test.
Battelle spokesman T.R. Massey said that Wednesday’s third public meeting in Spink County was attended by about 150 people, including field test organizers and Nathan Sanderson, a representative for Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who has voiced his support for the project.
Battelle is considering multiple sites in Spink County after original plans for the test in in Pierce County, N.D., unraveled in the face of public opposition and formal rejection from the county commission. Residents there feared a successful test would lead to eventual storage of nuclear waste, a fear that has been expressed in Spink County.
Massey said the company is drawing up the proper language for a potential “special exception” zoning application before Spink County to “give everybody as much peace of mind to the fact there will be no nuclear waste during this test.”
“I cannot say 100 percent that we’re filing the application. We’re still meeting internally to talk about last night and what are the proper steps moving forward,” Massey said by telephone. “But I’m eternally optimistic.”
Spink County Commissioner Cindy Schultz said the body, which also serves as the Planning and Zoning Commission, will consider an application if and when it is filed. Officials have not formed an opinion on the potential project, she said.
The Omaha Public Power District is considering shutting down its Fort Calhoun Station, a nuclear power plant near Blair, Neb., by the end of 2016.
Company President and CEO Tim Burke said during the board of directors monthly meeting that continued operation of Fort Calhoun, which started up in 1973, is not in the best long-term financial interests for OPPD or its customers. The board is expected to vote on the recommendation at its June 16 meeting.
In a press release Thursday, the company said the recommendation was prompted by “dynamic and rapid changes that are taking place in the industry.”
“The economic analysis clearly shows that continued operation of Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station is not financially sustainable,” Burke told the board, according to the announcement. “The analysis considered market conditions, economies of scale and the proposed Clean Power Plan.”
Other power companies have cited similar concerns, including low natural gas prices, in moving to shut down nuclear power plants.
Valhi, the American holding company that owns Waste Control Specialists, said Monday it recorded a net loss of $19.5 million in first-quarter 2016, compared to net income of $11.9 million in the same span of 2015.
Valhi attributed the loss primarily to changes in operating results in the company’s Waste Management and Chemicals segments. Waste Management net sales decreased by $9.8 million, from $15 million in first-quarter 2015 to $5.2 million in 2016. The Chemicals segment’s net sales were down $46.6 million year over year, recording $318.5 million for first-quarter 2016, compared to $365.1 million in 2015. The company cited lower average TiO2 selling prices in the Chemicals segment, which were 14 percent lower in first-quarter 2016 than in the corresponding period of 2015. Finally, real estate net sales decreased from $8.1 million in first-quarter 2015 to $2.7 million in 2016.
Total year-over-year net sales dropped from $416.1 million in first-quarter 2015 to $353.5 million in 2016.
Valhi in November agreed to sell its Waste Control Specialists subsidiary to the parent company of EnergySolutions, Rockwell Holdco Inc., for $270 million in cash, $20 million face amount in Series A Preferred Stock of Rockwell, and the assumption of about $77 million in indebtedness of WCS. The deal is expected to be completed in mid-2016.
Waste Control Specialists operates a large waste disposal site in West Texas, and late last month submitted its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a facility to house spent nuclear fuel on an interim basis.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and nuclear industry representatives are set next week to brief the NRC commissioners on the progress of the Japan Lessons Learned initiative, which is the regulator’s response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
NRC has scheduled the briefing for 9 a.m. May 17 in the Commissioners’ Conference Room at agency headquarters in Rockville, Md. Representatives from the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Electric Power Research Institute, Southern Nuclear Co., and Beyond Nuclear will provide presentations to the commission. NRC staff presentations will follow on the progress of the program’s three tiers.
NRC has spent about $50 million to implement recommendations at American nuclear power plants following the Fukushima Daiichi incident. The foundation of the program is NRC “flex” equipment, which is portable cooling gear that has been deployed at American power plants, and two national response centers in Memphis, Tenn., and Phoenix, Ariz.
Tier 1 is intended to improve mitigation for prolonged losses of power, analysis and response to flooding and seismic activity, staffing needs and communication capability, and confinement and filtering of radioactive material in the event of reactor core damage, among other improvements. Tier 2 is directed at spent fuel replacement, emergency preparedness, and external events beside flooding and seismic activity, among other areas. Tier 3 targets periodic confirmation of external hazards; fire prevention and mitigation; hydrogen control; emergency preparedness beyond tiers 1 and 2; radiation monitoring; public education; expedited transfer of spent fuel to dry cask storage; and reactor and containment designs that can withstand sever disasters.
INTERNATIONAL
AREVA NP has been awarded a contract to decontaminate Germany’s Grafenrheinfeld single-reactor nuclear power plant, the French company announced Thursday.
Expected to be completed in fourth-quarter 2016, the project will involve reducing radiation levels in the reactor pressure vessel, auxiliary systems, and piping. Decontamination will be implemented using AREVA NP’s CORD UV and the AMDA techniques, which the company said are based on “the progressive injection of chemical products into the reactor’s primary circuit.” When the process is complete, chemical substances are decomposed into carbon dioxide and water, which reportedly leave behind no additional waste. Grafenrheinfeld is a pressurized water reactor design.
German utility E.ON announced the shutdown of Grafenrheinfeld in March 2014. The plant, which began operation in 1981, was shut down in June 2015, six months ahead of schedule.
“AREVA’s decontamination technology has been already used reliably in over 30 nuclear facilities worldwide, including boiling and pressurized water reactors. This new contract confirms customer confidence in our decontamination technology,” AREVA Executive Vice President of sales for reactors and services Michael Cerruti said in a statement Thursday.
The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Monday it has awarded a series of four-year research and development contracts worth up to £12 million across multiple sites.
The three new framework contracts were awarded to 10 consortia involving more than 70 organizations. Those involved include U.K. universities, multinational corporations, and about 20 small- to medium-sized businesses.
Contracts for integrated waste management and site decommissioning and remediation were awarded to six consortia led by Amec Foster Wheeler Ltd., Arcadis Consulting (UK) Ltd., Arup, Eden NE Ltd., Galson Sciences Ltd., and NSG Environmental Ltd. Contracts for spent fuel and nuclear materials services were awarded to groups led by Amec Foster Wheeler Ltd., Areva NC, and National Nuclear Laboratory.
NDA initiated the selection process as a way of engaging smaller businesses.
“It was very pleasing to see so many (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) being engaged in the process and being part of successful consortia,” NDA Research Manager Yvonne Morris said in a statement. “Overall we were delighted with the high quality of the submissions and look forward to working with the organisations on our strategic R&D programme. We now have new multi-supplier contracts aligned with our key strategic themes. With many new organisations involved for the first time we will have broad input into addressing our R&D requirements.”
