Nuclear power plants have two options for the storage of spent nuclear fuel: It can be stored in a plant’s circulating-water spent fuel pool or in dry cask storage, which involves removing fuel from the pool, placing it in a stainless-steel cask and then moving that cask to a large steel-reinforced concrete vault located outside on plant grounds
– Source NRC –
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of PSEG Nuclear, LLC, on Thursday, May 27 to discuss the company’s upcoming plans for the dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Salem nuclear power plant in Hancocks Bridge (Salem County), N.J.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the NRC’s Region I Office, which is located at 475 Allendale Road in King of Prussia, Pa. There will be an opportunity for members of the public in attendance to ask questions of NRC staff regarding the topic prior to the session’s adjournment.
Nuclear power plants have two options for the storage of spent nuclear fuel: It can be stored in a plant’s circulating-water spent fuel pool or in dry cask storage, which involves removing fuel from the pool, placing it in a stainless-steel cask and then moving that cask to a large steel-reinforced concrete vault located outside on plant grounds.
PSEG intends to move fuel from its Salem nuclear power plant to the site’s dry cask storage facility, which is also known as an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, or ISFSI, later this year. The two-reactor Salem plant shares the ISFSI with an adjoining plant, the single-reactor Hope Creek unit, also owned and operated by the company.
Yesterday, PSEG Power and PSEG Nuclear have filed an Early Site Permit (ESP) application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as part of PSEG's ongoing efforts exploring the possibility of building an additional nuclear plant. The preferred location for a potential new plant would be adjacent to PSEG Nuclear's Salem and Hope Creek Generating Stations.