U.S.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on April 1 signed legislation lifting the state’s 33-year ban on building new nuclear power plants.
The state Senate, in a 23-9 vote, approved Rep. Kevin Petersen’s (R-Waupaca) legislation in December. Wisconsin previously prohibited construction of new plants on the basis that the federal government has not established a capable national nuclear waste storage facility. In addition to lifting the ban, the bill realigns Wisconsin’s energy priorities, moving nuclear ahead of nonrenewable energy sources but behind renewables.
“Nuclear energy is an affordable, environmentally safe, and sustainable alternative to fossil fuel,” Walker said in a statement. “The legislation we’re signing into law here today at the Wisconsin Energy Institute provides the Wisconsin Public Service Commission with increased flexibility for Wisconsin’s energy portfolio with the potential addition of nuclear facilities.”
AREVA TN, a branch of French nuclear giant AREVA, on Tuesday said it has broken ground on a facility in Moyock, N.C., that will cast the concrete for the company’s NUHOMS spent fuel storage modules.
The Moyock Casting Facility (MCF) is expected to have about 20 workers on one production line. The company spent over $1.5 million for the production line, which sits on 2.5 acres of land and is expected to produce 42 modules annually, with a built-in readiness to double that number with minimal further spending, AREVA North America spokesman Curtis Roberts said by email Wednesday.
“While our offices are still in temporary quarters, we have already begun concrete pours for the first production modules. Based on our customer requirements, we may ship our first batch of components in July 2016,” MCF Director Marlin Stoltz said in a press release.
The NUHOMS system is used for long-term horizontal dry storage of spent nuclear fuel. Each one encompasses stainless steel canisters held within concrete modules. The system is already used at over 30 sites around the nation, and would also be employed at a consolidated interim fuel storage site planned by Waste Control Specialists in West Texas.
AREVA TN’s stainless steel canisters are already produced by Columbiana Hi Tech in Kernersville, N.C.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has denied a petitioner’s request that the regulator inspect the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant and the Kewaunee Power Station to determine if issues with Belgian nuclear power plants could have implications in the U.S.
Petitioner Michael Mulligan spoke with NRC’s petition review board in May 2015 concerning several thousand cracks that were discovered during testing for Belgium’s Doel 3 and Tihange 2 nuclear reactors. The reactors have been shut down since 2014, and two leading material scientists — Professor Walter Bogaerts, of the University of Leuven in Belgium, and Professor Digby MacDonald, of the University of California, Berkeley — suggested in 2015 that the corrosion may have resulted from normal operation, suggesting a more widespread issue.
Mulligan requested the NRC conduct exigent and immediate full-scale ultrasonic inspections on the reactor pressure vessels at Vermont Yankee and Kewaunee, which are closed plants in Vermont and Wisconsin, respectively. Those same type of tests revealed the cracks at the Belgium plants, according to an NRC notice issued Tuesday. Mulligan also suggested NRC collaborate on the inspections with Belgium’s regulator, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control, among other suggestions.
NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Director William Dean denied the request, reasoning in part that “the identified facilities have ceased operations, and there is no safety concern at those facilities that justifies enforcement-related action (i.e., to modify, suspend, or revoke the licenses) for the NRC to have reasonable assurance of the adequate protection of public health and safety.”
INTERNATIONAL
EDF Energy and Holtec International announced Tuesday that they have completed the U.K.’s first dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.
The dry storage facility, known in the U.S. as an independent spent fuel storage installation, will now prepare for the first delivery of spent fuel, which is expected in the fall. The £200 million project means the Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station in Suffolk will continue to operate until at least 2035 and potentially 2055. The facility will house spent fuel from Sizewell B until a geological disposal facility is established. The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority anticipates opening the repository by 2040 at the latest.
“The new dry fuel store is the first in the UK and sets a new global standard for the safe storage of spent fuel,” EDF Energy CEO Vincent de Rivaz said in a statement. “As well as investing in our existing stations we are also advancing our plans for the next generation of nuclear power stations in Britain, including here at Sizewell. I am confident that the Hinkley Point C project will go ahead very soon and this will pave the way for the next stage of consultation for Sizewell C.”
Holtec President and CEO Kris Singh said in the statement: “We have built on-site dry storage facilities at scores of nuclear plants around the world. Sizewell B is the first in the UK and is designed to the highest standards and extreme structural strength demanded by EDF Energy and the UK regulatory requirements.”
Sellafield Ltd., the firm leading decommissioning of England’s Sellafield nuclear site, became a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on April 1.
As the U.K. nuclear regulator, NDA owns 17 sites across England, Wales, and Scotland. Sellafield Ltd. was previously owned by private consortium Nuclear Management Partners. The U.K. government announced the move in January 2015, resulting in NMP losing its $13.6 billion contract as the site’s “parent body organization.” Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey said then that Sellafield’s “complexity and technical uncertainties presented significantly greater challenges than other NDA sites,” and Sellafield wasn’t suited for the existing private-sector model.
“This is a new chapter for Sellafield,” NDA CEO John Clarke said in a statement. “Without a commercially driven contract, the NDA and Sellafield Ltd will be working to exactly the same goal, safely delivering the mission as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
With the change of management, energy industry veteran Tony Fountain becomes the new chairman of the Sellafield Ltd. Board. Fountain’s resume includes execute roles with NDA, BP, and India-based conglomerate Reliance Industries.
The University of Alberta has awarded Montreal-based engineering and construction company SNC-Lavalin a multi-million dollar contract for the decommissioning of its Safe Low-Power Kritical Experiment (SLOWPOKE) research reactor.
SNC-Lavalin announced the news Wednesday, noting that the project began in early 2016 and is scheduled to wrap up near the end of 2017. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. developed SLOWPOKE, one of four Canadian reactors, in the 1960s. The reactor was used for nuclear education and neutron research at Canadian universities.
“Decommissioning and waste management is part of our [holistic] life cycle approach to nuclear,” SNC-Lavalin Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Vice President of Nuclear Preston Swafford said in a press release. “Our decommissioning experience, combined with our waste management capabilities, will ensure that this research reactor is retired in the safest and most cost-effective manner.”
“The University of Alberta is pleased to have Candu Energy Inc. (a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group) lead the decommissioning process for the SLOWPOKE reactor,” university Associate Vice President of Operations and Facilities Hugh Warren said in the statement. “They have demonstrated expertise from previous projects and the recent completion of a project implementation plan. We look forward to collaborating and working with Candu Energy through this unique project.”
