The Nuclear Energy Institute said it had asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for rule changes that would cut cost and increase efficiency in the process of transitioning a power plant from active, operational status to one that is closed down and preparing for decommissioning.
Among the problems with the current process are an estimated $1 million per month that plants now spend on rules that “should no longer apply,” the NEI said, calling for timely rule changes that could help more than a dozen plants that are expected to transition to decommissioning by 2020.
Last November, the NEI noted, the federal regulatory agency published notice of its intention to “improve its regulatory framework for decommissioning.”
In response, the nuclear power industry assembled a task force that based many of its findings on “experience and expertise,” derived from recent plant closures at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant (in Florida), San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (California), and Kewaunee Power Station (Wisconsin).
The NEI noted that the current regulations get the job done. Ten operating plants have gone through the decommissioning process successfully. An additional 18 are in the midst of a successful experience in decommissioning, the NEI said.
But improvements are still possible. “Gaps in the existing regulations do not adequately recognize the associated reductions in risk profile,” the NEI said. “This forces companies to pursue multiple exemptions and license amendments in areas such as emergency preparedness, security, staffing and insurance.” The current rules are “unnecessarily cumbersome,” the trade group said.
“As we go through these transitions, the exemption process typically takes 12 to 18 months to complete, with more than $1.5 million a month in expenditures, two-thirds of which is on the industry side, while plants spend over $1 million per month complying with requirements that should no longer apply to them,” said NEI Senior Director of Used Fuel and Decommissioning Programs Rodney McCullum at a briefing presented to the NRC on March 15.
The NEI asked for timely changes to the requirements, given the possibility that improved regulations could be in place in time for plants, such as the FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Station (New York), Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (New Jersey) and Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Massachusetts), where announcements to close by 2020 have already been made.