U.S.
Holtec International said on July 29 it has successfully completed design and safety analysis simulation for the storage system it plans to use at a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in southeastern New Mexico.
The analysis, using Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved simulation methods, showed that a number of safety margins are unaffected or are improved when the company’s NUHOMS 24PT1-DSC canister is up-righted and stored in Holtec’s HI-STORM UMAX subterranean storage system in vertical orientation, according to the company.
“We are compiling the license submittal package and will submit it to the NRC for approval on August 29, 2016,” Stefan Anton, Holtec vice president for corporate engineering, said in a press release. “We had held a pre-submittal meeting on this submittal with the NRC, which helped us align our analysis models with NRC’s expectations, on April 4, 2016. We are proud to offer this ground -breaking technology to the nuclear industry which fulfills our drive to provide a state-of-the-art universal storage system able to store all of the used fuel and high level waste bearing canisters scattered at sites around the country and thus to advance DOE’s vision of a safest possible consolidated interim storage facility.”
Holtec plans to by November submit a license application to operate a 70,000-metric-ton capacity facility about 12 miles away from the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. Competitor Waste Control Specialists in April submitted its own application to the NRC to operate a 40,000-metric-ton-capacity interim storage facility in Texas near the border with New Mexico. The facilities would operate under DOE’s consent-based siting plan for nuclear waste, which is the Obama administration’s replacement for canceled repository plans at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Department of Energy plans for operation of a pilot storage facility by 2021; one or more interim facilities by 2025; and at least one permanent geologic repository by 2048.
The April 4 meeting “was to discuss Holtec’s plans to submit an amendment application to Certificate of Compliance No. 1040 for the HI-STORM UMAX Canister Storage System, in support of a site-specific independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) license application for the HI-STORE consolidated storage facility, to be located in Southeast New Mexico on land owned by the Eddy/Lea Energy Alliance,” the NRC said in a May 3 memo.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it has terminated the license at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ research reactor in Omaha, Neb., following decommissioning of the unit.
The Alan J. Blotcky Reactor Facility operated from June 1959 to November 2001 for neutron activation of biological samples and training needs for the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station. NRC staff has conducted the necessary inspections and confirmatory analyses to terminate the license and release the site for unrestricted use.
INTERNATIONAL
U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Chief Executive Officer John Clarke, a 30-year nuclear sector veteran, will retire within the next 12 months, NDA announced Friday.
Clarke served as CEO and accounting officer for NDA starting in 2012, and joined the NDA Board in 2008. He first served as the board’s commercial director before moving to the position of business planning director. Clarke also served as Sellafield site production director for British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. and as managing director for International Nuclear Services Ltd.
“John has made a major contribution to the NDA and its mission to safely clean up the UK’s nuclear legacy,” NDA Chairman Stephen Henwood said in a prepared statement. “Through his leadership, drive and commitment, John has improved performance at Sellafield with a new operating model, delivered an integrated approach to accelerating decommissioning across the estate and created an optimised strategy, resulting in increased value to the taxpayer.”
Clarke wrote: “I have been honoured and privileged to lead the NDA and its exceptional people through some major changes. It’s a demanding role and now is the time to hand the reins to someone who can take the organisation through the next phase of its development over the next five years.”
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. on Friday announced a new milestone in the ongoing decommissioning of the former Dounreay fast reactor research and development site in Scotland.
All 68 metric tons of a liquid metal coolant have now been extracted from the Dounreay Fast Reactor and eliminated, according to a press release. The work was conducted over a decade, with most of the removal occurring in 2012. Work afterward involved the challenging efforts of taking out the remaining coolant from pipes and the structure’s base.
The coolant was a mix of sodium and potassium known as NaK, and had been employed to extract heat from nuclear fuel in the reactor.
“This was one of the highest radiological hazards in the NDA estate, as well as a significant conventional safety hazard,” U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Chief Operating Officer Pete Lutwyche said in the release. “The difficulty of this task can’t be understated, and I welcome the news that this work is complete. Everyone involved should be proud of their achievement.”
The next major step in Dounreay decommissioning will be to take out roughly 1,000 breeder elements from the fast reactor’s vessel. That must be accomplished ahead of remediation and extraction of the reactor itself and 9 kilometers of cooling pipes. The Dounreay Fast Reactor, which closed in 1977, is scheduled to wrap up decommissioning in 2025 at a total cost of $314 million (£240 million).
