Faced with constraints on its crane inside the unit, Entergy has engineered a multi-step process that began Sunday for removing spent fuel from Indian Point 3 to dry casks.
It will be the first fuel to be moved from the reactor's spent fuel pool to dry cask storage since the 1,025 megawatt Westinghouse reactor received its license in 1975. Plans call for moving 192 fuel assemblies to unit 2's spent fuel pool, with 96 assemblies making their way into three dry casks to be stored at the plant's outdoor storage pad, according to an Entergy release.
Moving the fuel to the neighboring unit is necessary because the building surrounding unit 3's SFP can't accommodate the crane required to lift the casks. A smaller, water-filled canister that will work with the existing crane was designed for moving the fuel between the units, with the process approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in July. Entergy plans to complete the transfer before a refueling outage at unit 3 next year.
Indian Point has stored spent fuel from unit 2 in dry casks since 2007. Nineteen casks currently hold 448 assemblies from unit 2 and 160 from unit 1, shut down in 1974.