by Maurice D. Adams.
How is our nuclear fuel rod storage site doing? The best way to find out is to attend the CT Yankee Fuel Storage Advisory Committee (FSAC) meeting, open to the public, held yearly. Such a meeting was on May 21, 2019 at The River House at Goodspeed Station in Haddam.
Main observation, coincidentally, is from Maine. Maine Yankee had an inspection of its dry storage system in July of last year. Their storage system is very similar to CT Yankee’s (ours), with the additional complication of being close to salt water. Two major points: the inspection system itself was “very successful,” and the canister which was inspected appeared in “excellent condition.” It bodes well for our CT Yankee renewal application which will have to be submitted in advance of the April 2020 expiration date; the term of the renewal certificate is 40 years.
Ok, but why do we still have these Spent Nuclear Fuel rods (SNF) on-site at CT Yankee? Mainly because our U.S. Government, and affected States, have not been able to agree on a national storage facility. Although existing nuclear power plants are continually producing SNF (at the rate of some 2,000 metric tons/year), we as a country have not resolved whether we will ever construct the proposed Yucca Mountain geologic waste repository in Nevada, or some substitute. Our “Three Yankees” as they are called (CT Yankee, Maine Yankee, and Yankee Rowe), together spend roughly $30 million/year on dry storage of SNF. Staggering, but there is an offset: The Three Yankees just won a damage award lawsuit of $103.2 million resulting from the federal government’s ongoing failure to honor its contract obligations for SNF disposal for the 2013-2016 timeframe. State regulators overseeing the consortium of affected utility owners will decide how these funds flow.
Future plans for CT Yankee? For now, the major project is an upgrade of the Security Software used at the Site, to be completed by 3Q of this year.
Further information can be found at the connyankee.com website.
The next FSAC meeting is scheduled for May 5, 2020.
