Nuclear Waste Now Stored Outside Reactor
Aug 29 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
> After decades of national debate over what to do with spent
> nuclear fuel, and with no resolution in sight, the Kewaunee nuclear
> power plant in northeastern Wisconsin finally ran out of storage space
> inside the plant.
>
> So over the past week, Kewaunee workers have begun storing
> radioactive waste in casks on the grounds of the reactor, a short
> distance from the shores of Lake Michigan.
>
> After a practice run a few weeks ago, workers moved spent fuel
> into the first of the 25-ton, 16-foot-long casks and then transferred
> the cask into a concrete vault outside the building Aug. 22, said Mark
> Kanz, spokesman for the Kewaunee Power Station. A second cask was
> transferred Thursday.
>
> An expert on nuclear waste from the Nuclear Regulatory
> Commission's regional office in Chicago was on hand for the first
> procedure, said Viktoria Mitlyng, an agency spokeswoman. The process
> went smoothly, she said.
>
> The casks were designed to be temporary storage for nuclear
> waste.
> This year, however, the Obama administration announced it was not
> going to move forward with plans to develop a permanent storage site
> at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
>
> Instead, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he would appoint a
> commission to investigate a variety of alternatives for long-term
> nuclear waste disposal. In the meantime, Chu told Congress this year,
> the NRC has said storing the spent fuel at reactor sites is safe.
>
> "The NRC has said that it can be done safely. That buys us time
> to formulate a comprehensive plan in how we deal with the nuclear
> waste," he said.
>
> The federal government is obligated by law to accept the used
> reactor fuel from 104 commercial power reactors, but as yet it has no
> place to put it. The spent fuel, growing at the rate of 2,000 tons a
> year, now is being held in pools and above-ground concrete containers
> at reactor sites.
>
> The halt to the Yucca Mountain project could leave the federal
> government vulnerable to litigation from the nuclear power industry,
> said Derek Sands, associate editor of Platt's Inside Energy.
>
> "The administration is gaining a reputation for being less than
> supportive of nuclear power," he said.
>
> The Kewaunee plant is owned and operated by Dominion Resources
> Inc. of Richmond, Va. The reactor sells electricity to the plant's
> former owners, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and
> Wisconsin Power & Light Co.
> of Madison.
>
> Customer costs
>
> Wisconsin electricity customers have paid more than $344 million
> over the years to the federal government to help pay for the Yucca
> Mountain project, according to Nuclear Energy Institute data.
>
> Wisconsin has two nuclear power plants, located within miles of
> one another along Lake Michigan in northeastern Wisconsin. The larger
> of the two plants, Point Beach, has been storing its spent fuel in dry
> casks since the late 1990s.
>
> With the two transfers completed at Kewaunee this week, Dominion
> has no plans to transfer more spent fuel to its concrete storage
> facility until next year, Kanz said. The 25-ton cylindrical storage
> containers are ready to be shipped to another resting place for
> radioactive waste if and when the federal government designates a spot
> for the spent fuel.
>
> Disposal of spent nuclear fuel is a responsibility the federal
> government agreed to handle years ago. Dominion was the first nuclear
> operator to move nuclear fuel assemblies into dry casks, more than 20
> years ago, at its reactor in Virginia.
>
> "All of this belongs to the federal government because it's their
> responsibility," Kanz said. "Until they decide to take it and do
> something with it, we need a place to hold onto it. Our spent-fuel
> pool is getting full, so this is also a good option."
>
> The dwindling storage space in the spent-fuel pool inside the
> Kewaunee plant was among the factors that led Wisconsin utilities to
> sell the reactor to Dominion several years ago. Dominion then
> proceeded with plans to build the dry-cask storage system and applied
> to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to keep the plant running until
> 2033.
>
> Point Beach experienced a brief fire during a spent-fuel transfer
> attempt in 1996. The hydrogen fire inside one of the casks produced
> enough force to blow a 3-ton lid 3 inches into the air. That incident
> resulted in an investigation and a $325,000 fine against Wisconsin
> Electric, which owned the plant at the time.
>
> The Nuclear Regulatory Commission later required Wisconsin
> Electric, which now operates under the trade name We Energies, to use
> a different kind of storage container for the used but still
> radioactive nuclear fuel.
>
> Some Wisconsin environmental groups have been critical of nuclear
> power in part because of the onsite storage of radioactive waste on
> the grounds of the two plants.
>
> Recycling research
>
> As part of its review of options for nuclear waste, the federal
> Energy Department will explore the possibility of recycling nuclear
> fuel so it can be reused by nuclear plants, Chu told Congress this
> year.
>
> Wisconsin has a stake in the demise of the Yucca Mountain
> proposal, environmental groups say, because before the Nevada site was
> selected by Congress, a stretch of northern Wisconsin was once
> considered a potential storage site.
>
> "Once Yucca was canceled, there is officially nothing to do with
> this waste. It is just going to sit at the reactors, including the
> reactors in Wisconsin. That's a big problem and that's one of the
> reasons why we really need to not build any more reactors," said
> Jennifer Nordstrom of the Institute for Environment and Energy
> Research in Madison.
>
> The issue of what to do with used nuclear fuel is at the heart of
> a debate that's expected to be resurrected this fall in Madison, as
> part of discussions on a state strategy to reduce emissions linked to
> global warming.
>
> One proposal would relax Wisconsin's moratorium on construction
> of nuclear reactors by removing a requirement, now in state law, that
> a federal repository for nuclear waste be available to accept
> radioactive waste from any new reactor.
>
> The Nuclear Energy Institute and Dominion have both been lobbying
> in Madison this year on the issue. Attempts to overturn the state's
> nuclear moratorium have failed over the last six years, but NEI has
> been more active in Wisconsin than in five other states with
> moratoriums on nuclear power plant construction, Nordstrom said.
>
> PROS
>
> The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that it is
> safe for
> radioactive spent nuclear fuel to be stored in reinforced concrete
> bunkers
> near the nation's nuclear reactors. The systems have been in use for
> more
> than 20 years, the NRC says, adding, "dry cask storage systems are
> designed
> to resist floods, tornadoes, projectiles, temperature extremes and
> other
> unusual scenarios."
>
> CONS
>
> Opponents of nuclear power criticized the Yucca Mountain
> proposal as
> scientifically flawed given the geology of the site. But they also
> have
> concerns about storing nuclear waste near Lake Michigan and other
> drinking
> water sources. U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) says a long-term
> solution for
> the nuclear waste issue is needed, noting that the former Zion
> nuclear plant
> in his district, near the Kenosha County line, continues to have
> spent fuel
> onsite.
>
>
> T
> After decades of national debate over what to do with spent
> nuclear fuel, and with no resolution in sight, the Kewaunee nuclear
> power plant in northeastern Wisconsin finally ran out of storage space
> inside the plant.
>
> So over the past week, Kewaunee workers have begun storing
> radioactive waste in casks on the grounds of the reactor, a short
> distance from the shores of Lake Michigan.
>
> After a practice run a few weeks ago, workers moved spent fuel
> into the first of the 25-ton, 16-foot-long casks and then transferred
> the cask into a concrete vault outside the building Aug. 22, said Mark
> Kanz, spokesman for the Kewaunee Power Station. A second cask was
> transferred Thursday.
>
> An expert on nuclear waste from the Nuclear Regulatory
> Commission's regional office in Chicago was on hand for the first
> procedure, said Viktoria Mitlyng, an agency spokeswoman. The process
> went smoothly, she said.
>
> The casks were designed to be temporary storage for nuclear
> waste.
> This year, however, the Obama administration announced it was not
> going to move forward with plans to develop a permanent storage site
> at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
>
> Instead, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he would appoint a
> commission to investigate a variety of alternatives for long-term
> nuclear waste disposal. In the meantime, Chu told Congress this year,
> the NRC has said storing the spent fuel at reactor sites is safe.
>
> "The NRC has said that it can be done safely. That buys us time
> to formulate a comprehensive plan in how we deal with the nuclear
> waste," he said.
>
> The federal government is obligated by law to accept the used
> reactor fuel from 104 commercial power reactors, but as yet it has no
> place to put it. The spent fuel, growing at the rate of 2,000 tons a
> year, now is being held in pools and above-ground concrete containers
> at reactor sites.
>
> The halt to the Yucca Mountain project could leave the federal
> government vulnerable to litigation from the nuclear power industry,
> said Derek Sands, associate editor of Platt's Inside Energy.
>
> "The administration is gaining a reputation for being less than
> supportive of nuclear power," he said.
>
> The Kewaunee plant is owned and operated by Dominion Resources
> Inc. of Richmond, Va. The reactor sells electricity to the plant's
> former owners, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and
> Wisconsin Power & Light Co.
> of Madison.
>
> Customer costs
>
> Wisconsin electricity customers have paid more than $344 million
> over the years to the federal government to help pay for the Yucca
> Mountain project, according to Nuclear Energy Institute data.
>
> Wisconsin has two nuclear power plants, located within miles of
> one another along Lake Michigan in northeastern Wisconsin. The larger
> of the two plants, Point Beach, has been storing its spent fuel in dry
> casks since the late 1990s.
>
> With the two transfers completed at Kewaunee this week, Dominion
> has no plans to transfer more spent fuel to its concrete storage
> facility until next year, Kanz said. The 25-ton cylindrical storage
> containers are ready to be shipped to another resting place for
> radioactive waste if and when the federal government designates a spot
> for the spent fuel.
>
> Disposal of spent nuclear fuel is a responsibility the federal
> government agreed to handle years ago. Dominion was the first nuclear
> operator to move nuclear fuel assemblies into dry casks, more than 20
> years ago, at its reactor in Virginia.
>
> "All of this belongs to the federal government because it's their
> responsibility," Kanz said. "Until they decide to take it and do
> something with it, we need a place to hold onto it. Our spent-fuel
> pool is getting full, so this is also a good option."
>
> The dwindling storage space in the spent-fuel pool inside the
> Kewaunee plant was among the factors that led Wisconsin utilities to
> sell the reactor to Dominion several years ago. Dominion then
> proceeded with plans to build the dry-cask storage system and applied
> to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to keep the plant running until
> 2033.
>
> Point Beach experienced a brief fire during a spent-fuel transfer
> attempt in 1996. The hydrogen fire inside one of the casks produced
> enough force to blow a 3-ton lid 3 inches into the air. That incident
> resulted in an investigation and a $325,000 fine against Wisconsin
> Electric, which owned the plant at the time.
>
> The Nuclear Regulatory Commission later required Wisconsin
> Electric, which now operates under the trade name We Energies, to use
> a different kind of storage container for the used but still
> radioactive nuclear fuel.
>
> Some Wisconsin environmental groups have been critical of nuclear
> power in part because of the onsite storage of radioactive waste on
> the grounds of the two plants.
>
> Recycling research
>
> As part of its review of options for nuclear waste, the federal
> Energy Department will explore the possibility of recycling nuclear
> fuel so it can be reused by nuclear plants, Chu told Congress this
> year.
>
> Wisconsin has a stake in the demise of the Yucca Mountain
> proposal, environmental groups say, because before the Nevada site was
> selected by Congress, a stretch of northern Wisconsin was once
> considered a potential storage site.
>
> "Once Yucca was canceled, there is officially nothing to do with
> this waste. It is just going to sit at the reactors, including the
> reactors in Wisconsin. That's a big problem and that's one of the
> reasons why we really need to not build any more reactors," said
> Jennifer Nordstrom of the Institute for Environment and Energy
> Research in Madison.
>
> The issue of what to do with used nuclear fuel is at the heart of
> a debate that's expected to be resurrected this fall in Madison, as
> part of discussions on a state strategy to reduce emissions linked to
> global warming.
>
> One proposal would relax Wisconsin's moratorium on construction
> of nuclear reactors by removing a requirement, now in state law, that
> a federal repository for nuclear waste be available to accept
> radioactive waste from any new reactor.
>
> The Nuclear Energy Institute and Dominion have both been lobbying
> in Madison this year on the issue. Attempts to overturn the state's
> nuclear moratorium have failed over the last six years, but NEI has
> been more active in Wisconsin than in five other states with
> moratoriums on nuclear power plant construction, Nordstrom said.
>
> PROS
>
> The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that it is
> safe for
> radioactive spent nuclear fuel to be stored in reinforced concrete
> bunkers
> near the nation's nuclear reactors. The systems have been in use for
> more
> than 20 years, the NRC says, adding, "dry cask storage systems are
> designed
> to resist floods, tornadoes, projectiles, temperature extremes and
> other
> unusual scenarios."
>
> CONS
>
> Opponents of nuclear power criticized the Yucca Mountain
> proposal as
> scientifically flawed given the geology of the site. But they also
> have
> concerns about storing nuclear waste near Lake Michigan and other
> drinking
> water sources. U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) says a long-term
> solution for
> the nuclear waste issue is needed, noting that the former Zion
> nuclear plant
> in his district, near the Kenosha County line, continues to have
> spent fuel
> onsite.
>
>
> T