Bill calls for dry storage of spent fuelMay 14 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Christine Legere Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., joined fellow Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Tuesday in filing three bills to improve safety and security at decommissioned nuclear reactors, and to ensure safe storage of spent fuel rods at sites across the country. When spent fuel is removed from an electricity-producing reactor, it gives off heat and radiation for several years. The fuel assemblies must be placed into pools for five to seven years to cool, but frequently they remain there for a much longer time. A plan to store spent rods from all the nation's reactors in a permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada fell through long ago, and another storage location has yet to be identified. That has left the country's 100 nuclear power plant licensees with the responsibility of storing spent fuel on-site. The 42-year-old Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth stores about 3,500 highly radioactive spent fuel assemblies in a pool on the upper level of a building outside its reactor. The pool was initially designed for 880 rods. Studies by nuclear experts have shown even partial loss of water in the spent fuel pools could result in a fire and release of radiation into the area. The Dry Cask Storage Act of 2014 would require reactor operators to submit, within 180 days of the bill's enactment, plans for moving spent fuel rods from wet pools into dry casks, which is considered a safer method of storage, according to Markey's announcement. Operators would have seven years from the date they submit those plans to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get the spent fuel into casks. The bill would provide funding to help licensees implement the plans. Any plant that fails to comply with the law would have the 10-mile emergency planning zone around its operation expanded to 50 miles. All costs associated with the expansion of the emergency zone would be borne by the licensee. "Nuclear reactors such as Pilgrim house spent fuel that could be at major risk of experiencing radioactive releases, fires and widespread contamination," Markey said in an email to the Times. "Pilgrim already contains nearly four times more radioactive waste than it was designed to hold. Communities neighboring Pilgrim and nuclear reactors around the country should have the peace of mind that the nuclear waste will be moved to safer storage to avoid the worst consequences if a nuclear disaster occurs." Duxbury resident Mary Lampert, founder of Pilgrim Watch, said she is pleased that senators from both sides of the country are working together on solutions for nuclear power plants. "We know spent fuel will be on the shores of Cape Cod Bay until my grandchildren are my age," Lampert said. "That presents a safety risk, as well as an economic risk." The senators' second bill, called the Safe and Secure Decommissioning Act of 2014, would prohibit the NRC from issuing exemptions from its emergency response or security requirements at reactors that have shut down, until all spent nuclear fuel stored on the site had been moved to dry casks. According to the statement released by Markey's office, the NRC "has granted every request from emergency response requirements that it has ever received from a licensee of a decommissioning reactor." Lampert said it is important to maintain up-to-date emergency response plans, as well as security, while pools of radioactive rods remain on site. "When the plants shut their doors, owners apply for less emergency planning," Lampert said. "Without planning, we do not have an assurance anyone would get out of Dodge in time." The third bill, called the Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of 2014, would ensure that states and communities have a role in development of decommissioning plans for nuclear reactors in their areas, through a public review process, Markey's office announced. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=32483571& |