According to a State Nuclear Safety Inspector, the spent nuclear fuel currently stored on the site of the former Maine Yankee power plant in Wiscasset could remain where it is for another “100 to 300 years.”
State Nuclear Safety Inspector Patrick Dostie made his observation during the 15th anniversary meeting of Maine Yankee’s Community Advisory Panel on Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage, held in Edgecomb, Sept. 18.
Because the amount of time the fuel could remain is uncertain, accelerated time tests are going to be performed to understand reactions of both the fuel and the canisters beyond the initial 20-40 year time span that had been anticipated, Dostie said.
Research is being done by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and industry members to determine how the fuel and the stainless steel canisters the fuel is stored in are going to react over longer periods of time, said Dostie.
James Connell, Vice President of Maine Yankee and manager of its Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, said the sealant on the concrete casks which house the fuel canisters had degraded enough to warrant replacement. The sealant was replaced this summer, he said.
Maine Yankee is working with the canisters’ manufacturer, NAC International, to provide an exceptional submission for renewing the license for the canisters, Connell said. The canisters’ license will expire in 2020.
Connell said that a new weather station had been installed to monitor chlorides in the air. The chlorides are detrimental to the stainless steel canisters and their source isn’t yet clear, he said.
Connell said that they suspect some amount of chlorides in the air could be attributed to the brackish water of the river or deicing agents applied to the roads, but the research will help determine that.
Monitoring will help Maine Yankee stay ahead of any problems resulting from chloride damage, and taking swabs from the canisters themselves will help validate the weather station’s readings, Connell said.
“We need to gather quite a bit of information before we have any data that will be meaningful,” Connell said.
“We do expect spent nuclear fuel to remain on site for many years,” said Howes.
A plan for action on the BRC’s recommendations was due from the Department of Energy to Congress on July 26 but one hasn’t been presented yet, said Howes.
Howes said the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2012, a bill spearheaded by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico), represents another effort to implement the BRC’s recommendations.
One way Bingaman’s bill strays from the BRC’s recommendations is the establishment of an Executive Branch agency to develop new storage and disposal facilities, said Howes.
The agency would be funded using monies that have been paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund and would have to be disbursed by Congress, Howes said.
There are concerns on whether or not the proposed agency would be insulated from political pressures, Howes said.
The Bingaman bill “will not be acted on in this Congress,” said Howes.
Marge Kilkelly, chair of the Community Advisory Panel, said she is glad the Bingaman bill will eventually be heard, because it will help keep the information provided by the BRC fresh.
Howes said the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Maine Yankee, Connecticut Yankee, and Yankee Atomic Electric Company, May 18, in the latest action concerning litigation over the DOE’s failure to remove spent nuclear fuel and Greater than Class C Waste from those Yankee sites.
Nearly $160 million in damages from 1998-2002 were awarded to the plaintiffs in that suit, $82 million of that for Maine Yankee, said Howes.
The DOE may still appeal the decision with the U.S. Supreme Court, said Howes.
A decision in a second round of damage claims filed by the three Yankee companies in December 2007 could be expected this year, said Howes. Maine Yankee is seeking approximately $35 million in the second suit, he said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued separate violations to each of the three Yankee companies for non-compliance with foreign ownership and control regulations, said Connell.
The violations are of the lowest level and carry no penalties, said Connell. The NRC had not identified any concerns over safety and security, he said.
The NRC is requiring the companies to add plans to prohibit any effects from their foreign ownership, said Connell.
Two potential violations were identified by Maine Yankee during the inspection and were corrected, Connell said.
G4S Security Solutions USA has replaced Securitas Energy Services as the security provider for Maine Yankee as well as the other two Yankee facilities, said Connell.
The transition between the two companies was smooth, and since the site’s existing security staff did not change and instead became employees of G4S, no experience or knowledge was lost, said Connell.
According to Connell, the letter said the DEP “considers all tasks associated with the post decommissioning groundwater monitoring agreement … at the former Maine Yankee nuclear power plant site as being satisfactorily completed.”
Testing for non-radiological contaminants will still be done every five years, said Connell.
Kilkelly said that that the panel process had been “an interesting synergy of people learning by doing and then making it happen.”
CAP member Dan Thompson said it has been a productive forum for people to air issues and to introduce a process that no one had been familiar with.
Thompson said that when he was still the Town Planner of Wiscasset, Maine Yankee had asked him who he thought should be on the panel.
“I said it doesn’t matter as long as it was a broad spectrum of people, and they took that seriously,” he said.
Maine Yankee Chief Nuclear Officer and CAP member Wayne Norton said the panel’s efforts led the entire company to change their thinking on what Maine Yankee needed to accomplish.
Former CAP member Ray Shadis, now a technical consultant to the New England Coalition on Nuclear Protection, thanked the members of the panel for their extended commitment.
Shadis said that since the fuel might remain in place for a long time, the panel should follow a precautionary road and consider all the possibilities. “When it comes to protection for your community, never say never,” he said.