IN THE U.S.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday announced that it had renewed for 40 years the license for the dry-cask independent spent fuel storage site the Prairie Island nuclear power facility in Minnesota. The Northern States Power license is now good through Oct. 31, 2053.
The company in 2011 requested renewal of the license that was due to expire in 2013. That put the facility into "timely renewal," sustaining the license while the NRC assessed the renewal request.
This was the NRC’s sixth renewed license for a dry-cask facility. It comes with specific conditions "requiring periodic inspections of the casks and their components to ensure potential aging effects are identified and managed," according to an NRC press release. "These conditions require Northern States Power to evaluate any issues and take corrective action to address anything that could prevent a cask component from performing its safety function."
“Our decision to relicense Prairie Island’s dry cask storage systems is based on our finding that they meet the NRC’s strict standards and will be able to store spent fuel safely over the extended period of the renewed license,” said Anthony Hsia, acting Director of the NRC’s Division of Spent Fuel Management, said in the release. “Inspections by the licensee and the NRC going forward will ensure any effects from aging will be managed so they do not affect the casks’ ability to protect workers, the public and the environment.”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that a proposed license amendment at the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, which would allow security personnel to use higher-capacity firearms and magazines, poses no environmental threat.
Plant operator Entergy has requested the amendment for the Oswego County, N.Y., power plant, which will cease operations in late 2016 or early 2017.
In a Federal Register announcement, NRC staff said the proposed amendment would not cause any significant impact on environment or human quality of life. “The proposed action would not significantly increase the probability of consequences or accidents,” the announcement states.
The agency began accepting public comment concerning draft documents for the request on Oct. 29, and has not received any comments.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found that the request from the operator of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant to use higher-capacity firearms and magazines for security purposes would not have any significant environmental impact on the San Luis Obispo County, Calif., facility.
Plant operator Pacific Gas and Electric has requested the license amendment to allow security personnel use of greater-capacity weapons, notwithstanding state, local, and federal firearm regulations that otherwise prohibit such use. The request would apply to the plant’s units 1 and 2, including the specific-license Independent spent fuel storage installation.
NRC staff concluded in a Federal Register announcement that the proposed action would not cause any significant environmental impact or have any significant impact on the quality of the human environment. “The proposed action would not significantly increase the probability or consequences of accidents,” the announcement states.
The agency began accepting public comment concerning draft documents for the request on Oct. 28. It received no comments.
INTERNATIONAL
AREVA said Thursday it has signed multiple agreements with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission to manage nuclear plants undergoing disassembly at Marcoule and to aid on-site work through 2016 to 2020. The deals are expected to provide roughly 370 million euros ($400 million) in revenue, the company said in a press release.
“As the former nuclear operator at the Marcoule site and the CEA’s leading partner for dismantling services, AREVA has been engaged since 2006 in major cleanup activities at local facilities as well as in facility operation services,” the release says. “These contracts covering 2016-2020 mark the renewal of this cooperation. These contracts concern primarily industrial operator services on behalf of the CEA, treatment of site effluents, recovery and reconditioning of legacy waste, and support for the CEA’s suppliers at facilities undergoing dismantling.”
The work is expected to create about 50 jobs in areas including engineering, site work, and installation.
“Our continued collaboration with the CEA at Marcoule offers a sound basis for developing our expertise in dismantling,” Guillaume Dureau, who heads AREVA’s back end business group, said in the release. “A hotbed of innovation in the sector, the CEA’s center at Marcoule hosts some of Europe’s largest dismantling projects, those for which AREVA will remain fully mobilized.”
Kurion, Inc. announced last week that it had signed new licensing agreements for its GeoMelt waste vitrication technology with ISV Japan and its parent company Daiei Kankyo for a hazardous waste treatment plant in Iga City, Japan.
Daiei Kankyo operates the Iga City plant, where it treats asbestos, PCBs, dioxins, and other persistent organic pollutants. According to a press release from Kurion, facility operations include the vitrification of several hundred tons of hazardous waste annually.
“GeoMelt vitrification technology has a long history in Japan, where it has successfully treated thousands of tons of hazardous waste at the Daiei Kankyo facility in Mie Prefecture,” Yohei Iwasaki, Kurion’s vice president and country manager in Japan, said. “ISV Japan and Daiei Kankyo are trusted partners, and our relationship is increasingly important as we build upon both companies’ already deep operating experience in Japan.”
Through the use of electric currents, GeoMelt technologies convert nuclear and hazardous waste into leach-resistant glass that is 10 times stronger than concrete, according to the announcement. The technology has been in commercial use since the 1990s in Japan, the U.S., U.K., and Australia.
Japan’s industry ministry is determining the feasibility of burying high-level radioactive waste from the country’s nuclear reactors below the ocean floor, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
According to the publication, working panel members cited the proposal as “highly appropriate” on Dec. 11, noting that the radioactive waste could be buried less than 20 kilometers from the coastline. An expert panel is expected to consider the idea in January, according to the article.
In August, more than four years after the Fukushima-Daiichi disaster, Japan restarted its first nuclear reactor under its post-Fukushima rules. Nuclear plants throughout the entire country had been shut down after the tsunami and earthquake disaster at Fukushima. The BBC reported in August that 25 plants had applied for restart, but many face legal hurdles and public opposition.