NUKE NEWS
What we know
Doug Fraser, Cape Cod Times
Wed, November 24, 2021
PLYMOUTH — One of the options being considered by the company that is decommissioning the closed Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is to release around one million gallons of potentially radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay.
The option had been discussed briefly with state regulatory officials as one possible way to get rid of water from the spent fuel pool, the reactor vessel and other components of the facility, Holtec International spokesman Patrick O'Brien said in an interview Wednesday. It was highlighted in a report by state Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Regional Director Seth Pickering at Monday's meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel in Plymouth.
"We had broached that with the state, but we've made no decision on that," O'Brien said.
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, which was permanently closed in 2019 and is undergoing decommissioning.
As of mid-December, Holtec will complete the process of moving all the spent fuel rods into casks that are being stored on a concrete pad on the Pilgrim plant site in Plymouth. After that, O'Brien told the panel, the removal and disposal of other components in those areas of the facility will take place and be completed sometime in February.
O'Brien said the remaining water used to cool the fuel rods in the pool and inside the reactor will be dealt with — the process to decide on a disposal method will get underway within the next six months to a year. Two other possible options discussed at Monday's meeting are trucking the water off-site to an approved facility, as Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant did in shipping its contaminated water to a site in Idaho or to evaporate it, a process that has already been employed in some areas of the Plymouth plant.
Before they decide on any options, O'Brien said they would do an analysis to determine what contaminants the water contains. Likely, it will be metals and radioactive materials, he said.
Decommissioning process: Main emissions stack at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station set to come down
Radioactive water inspected before it is released
Pickering pointed out that any water discharged under the federal Clean Water Act discharge permit overseen by the federal Environmental Protection Agency would have to be part of an approved plan reviewed by the EPA, the DEP and the state Department of Public Health.
"Mass DEP, and the U.S. EPA have made the company aware that any discharge of pollutants regulated under the Clean Water Act, (and) contained within spent fuel cooling water, into the ocean through Cape Cod Bay is not authorized under the NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permit," Pickering said. But he went on to say that radioactivity is not listed under the NPDES as a pollutant and is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Pine duBois, vice chair of the citizens decommissioning panel, cited a memorandum of understanding signed by Holtec that governed the decommissioning of Pilgrim — negotiated by the state Attorney General's office — that stated discharge of pollutants into Cape Cod Bay is not permitted.
"It's not permitted by the EPA, but that doesn't mean it can't happen if the NRC allows it," duBois said.
O'Brien noted that it was a fairly common practice in the nuclear industry, known as "overboarding," to release water, including radioactive water, into the ocean from power plants. He said it happened recently during the decommissioning of New Jersey's Oyster Creek facility, which is also being done by Holtec.
Opposition to plan comes from Cape Cod resident and officials
But state Sen. Susan Moran, D-Falmouth, said she is opposed to any release of radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay as part of the decommissioning process. She called for Holtec to release plans on how they will handle all waste materials at the plant.
The Nov. 7 accidental release of over 7,200 gallons of water into Cape Cod Bay — when contractors, seeking to drain a flooded electrical vault to do repair work following the October nor'easter, pumped water into a storm drain that emptied into the sea — did not inspire confidence in the execution of protocols, plant watchdogs say. That discharge was believed to be non-radioactive water.
"Although the recently reported violation of the station national pollutant discharge elimination system has been described as isolated, it brings to light that there are not sufficient safeguards and procedures in place to prevent discharges of contaminated water into the Cape Cod Bay. The potential for pollutants and dangerous materials being discharged in our water resources is alarming," Moran said in an email Wednesday. "Further, it is imperative that the federal agencies stop kicking the can down the road and determine long term solutions for the removal of these materials safely and expeditiously."
Diane Turco, of Harwich, the director of Cape Downwinders, a citizen group that was at the forefront of the effort to close Pilgrim, called any option that included sending radioactive water into the bay "outrageous" and "criminal." Turco said she has no confidence in the decommissioning process.
"The process has been to allow radioactivity into the environment," she said. "The answer should be no you can't do that."
Richard Delaney, the president of the Center for Coastal Studies, agreed.
"My immediate reaction to putting radioactivity into the ocean, into that part of Cape Cod Bay is that it would be nature-negative," he said. "We have been monitoring water quality in Cape Cod Bay for 20 years and there's already enough pollutants going into the bay. To put radioactive waste on top of that — it shouldn't be an option."
Delaney said he wondered if it was included as an option to be analyzed, but one that in the end wouldn't seriously be considered. DuBois agreed.
"I have a hard time thinking the NRC overrules (the EPA)," duBois said, adding that Holtec will be careful about damaging the environment.
"I think Holtec wants to do this right because they want to be a giant of the (decommissioning) industry. If they mess up Pilgrim, their reputation is dead," duBois said.
Turco called on the public to start paying more attention to the decommissioning process and attend citizens advisory board meetings in person and remotely. But O'Brien and duBois said the public comment period pretty much passed with the issuance of the NPDES permit.
"I don't think there's a requirement for public comment," duBois said.
Contact Doug Fraser at dfraser@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dougfrasercct.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Pilgrim nuclear plant may release radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant gets 13K nuclear waste shipments, plans to 'ramp up' to 17 a week
Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus
Fri, November 26, 2021
A 13,000th shipment of nuclear waste was delivered to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant repository near Carlsbad Nov. 11, marking a milestone since the facility first began accepting waste in 1999.
The shipment was made up of transuranic (TRU) waste from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory from that facility’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project.
About half of WIPP’s shipments in its lifetime came from the Idaho lab, about 6,600.
More: WIPP readies 8th panel to dispose of nuclear waste, altering air quality requirements
During that same week, eight shipments arrived at WIPP, including two from Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico.
TRU waste is made up of clothing materials, equipment and other wastes like sludge irradiated during nuclear operations.
Most of the shipments were labeled “contact-handled (CH) waste, meaning that have lower radioactivity than remote-handled (RH) waste and can be handled safely without additional shielding during processing, transportation and disposal emplacement.
More: WIPP: Air shaft project to resume despite objections at nuclear waste site near Carlsbad
Of the 13,000 shipments of waste sent to WIPP in the last two decades, 775 were considered RH waste, handled in shielded casks and emplaced in the walls of the WIPP underground – an underground salt deposit that gradually buried the waste permanently and blocks radiation.
To get that waste to the WIPP facility from nuclear sites owned by the DOE around the country, truck drivers logged about 15 million miles, per a DOE news release, without a “serious injury” or radiological release.
DOE Environmental Management (EM) Senior Adviser William White commended WIPP’s workers for reaching 13,000 shipments, including underground miners, waste handlers and drivers that move the waste across the country.
More: Safety issues at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant slow disposal of nuclear waste near Carlsbad
“It's another huge milestone for the EM program,” White said. “I want to congratulate everyone involved in this milestone, from the employees at the generator sites who certify and package the waste, to the workers at WIPP who mine the disposal rooms and prepare the waste before it's permanently disposed underground.”
WIPP’s first shipment was delivered for disposal from Los Alamos in March 1999, and the site went on to dispose of waste from 13 facilities around the U.S.
The final shipment from Rocky Flats and Environmental Technology Site in Colorado came in 2005, and the 10,000 shipment was received – also from Idaho – in 2011.
More: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant adds space for nuclear waste disposal near Carlsbad
The first RH waste shipment was disposed of at WIPP in 2007, and the facility hasn’t receive RH waste since 2014, although the process of resuming RH waste was underway and expected to take about three years.
Reinhard Knerr, manager of the DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office said WIPP was a key part of the DOE’s efforts to clean up nuclear waste in the U.S.
“WIPP continues to be the cornerstone of DOE’s efforts to reduce the legacy defense TRU waste footprint,” Knerr said. “WIPP’s transportation program has been a tremendous success, and I congratulate everyone involved on a job well done.”
More: Groups look to block controversial air shaft project at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
During a recent public meeting, Knerr explained WIPP’s progress in increasing weekly shipments in pursuit of a goal of 17 shipments per week.
Over the last year, Knerr said WIPP received 199 shipments. He touted continued waste emplacement despite multiple halts in operations amid the COVID-19 health crisis which first struck New Mexico in March 2020.
WIPP officials projected 258 shipments this year, Knerr said, but despite not reaching the goal he said he still considered the number “successful” during the pandemic.
More: U.S. Senate bill has implications for New Mexico nuclear waste projects
“Given the pandemic and the large spikes of COVID-19 that we’ve had in the community, we take a look back at this year as a very large success,” Knerr said. “We do project a ramp up to 17 shipments per week on average.”
Reinhard Knerr, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) gives an update on operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Nov. 18, 2021 at the CBFO building in Carlsbad.
That’s about 680 shipments per year, and WIPP will continue to prioritize shipments from Los Alamos and Idaho, Knerr said, for the “bulk” of the next decade.
Knerr said increasing shipments can be achieved ahead of an ongoing rebuild of the facility’s ventilation system planned to go into service in 2025 or 2026.
More: WIPP: Judge upholds change in how nuke waste is counted. Could keep site open to 2050
“We believe we’re going to be ready to resume increased shipments well before that,” he said.
To achieve that goal, Knerr said WIPP must complete multiple projects: filling and closing out the 7th waste disposal panel by 2022 and finishing emplacement in Panel 8 by 2025.
Then, he said WIPP hopes to emplace waste in Panels 11, 12 in the coming years and Panel 13 by 2034.
More: WIPP: Critics accuse feds of expanding nuclear waste repository before New Mexico task force
Plans were recently announced to mine Panels 11 and 12, described by WIPP officials as “replacement” panels for capacity lost in an accidental radiological release in 2014 that led to a three-year halt of WIPP’s primary operations.
To support the increase in waste emplacement and mining, Knerr said a fourth shift was intended to be added to the WIPP workforce.
“We have to make sure that we are mining,” Knerr said. “That includes the access drifts as well as mining out the panels themselves. We need to be sure that we have enough staff on site to support not only the mining needs that we have, but the waste emplacement as well.”
Adrian Hedden @AdrianHedden on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant gets 13K nuclear waste shipments
Doug Fraser, Cape Cod Times
Wed, November 24, 2021
PLYMOUTH — One of the options being considered by the company that is decommissioning the closed Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is to release around one million gallons of potentially radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay.
The option had been discussed briefly with state regulatory officials as one possible way to get rid of water from the spent fuel pool, the reactor vessel and other components of the facility, Holtec International spokesman Patrick O'Brien said in an interview Wednesday. It was highlighted in a report by state Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Regional Director Seth Pickering at Monday's meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel in Plymouth.
"We had broached that with the state, but we've made no decision on that," O'Brien said.
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, which was permanently closed in 2019 and is undergoing decommissioning.
As of mid-December, Holtec will complete the process of moving all the spent fuel rods into casks that are being stored on a concrete pad on the Pilgrim plant site in Plymouth. After that, O'Brien told the panel, the removal and disposal of other components in those areas of the facility will take place and be completed sometime in February.
O'Brien said the remaining water used to cool the fuel rods in the pool and inside the reactor will be dealt with — the process to decide on a disposal method will get underway within the next six months to a year. Two other possible options discussed at Monday's meeting are trucking the water off-site to an approved facility, as Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant did in shipping its contaminated water to a site in Idaho or to evaporate it, a process that has already been employed in some areas of the Plymouth plant.
Before they decide on any options, O'Brien said they would do an analysis to determine what contaminants the water contains. Likely, it will be metals and radioactive materials, he said.
Decommissioning process: Main emissions stack at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station set to come down
Radioactive water inspected before it is released
Pickering pointed out that any water discharged under the federal Clean Water Act discharge permit overseen by the federal Environmental Protection Agency would have to be part of an approved plan reviewed by the EPA, the DEP and the state Department of Public Health.
"Mass DEP, and the U.S. EPA have made the company aware that any discharge of pollutants regulated under the Clean Water Act, (and) contained within spent fuel cooling water, into the ocean through Cape Cod Bay is not authorized under the NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permit," Pickering said. But he went on to say that radioactivity is not listed under the NPDES as a pollutant and is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Pine duBois, vice chair of the citizens decommissioning panel, cited a memorandum of understanding signed by Holtec that governed the decommissioning of Pilgrim — negotiated by the state Attorney General's office — that stated discharge of pollutants into Cape Cod Bay is not permitted.
"It's not permitted by the EPA, but that doesn't mean it can't happen if the NRC allows it," duBois said.
O'Brien noted that it was a fairly common practice in the nuclear industry, known as "overboarding," to release water, including radioactive water, into the ocean from power plants. He said it happened recently during the decommissioning of New Jersey's Oyster Creek facility, which is also being done by Holtec.
Opposition to plan comes from Cape Cod resident and officials
But state Sen. Susan Moran, D-Falmouth, said she is opposed to any release of radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay as part of the decommissioning process. She called for Holtec to release plans on how they will handle all waste materials at the plant.
The Nov. 7 accidental release of over 7,200 gallons of water into Cape Cod Bay — when contractors, seeking to drain a flooded electrical vault to do repair work following the October nor'easter, pumped water into a storm drain that emptied into the sea — did not inspire confidence in the execution of protocols, plant watchdogs say. That discharge was believed to be non-radioactive water.
"Although the recently reported violation of the station national pollutant discharge elimination system has been described as isolated, it brings to light that there are not sufficient safeguards and procedures in place to prevent discharges of contaminated water into the Cape Cod Bay. The potential for pollutants and dangerous materials being discharged in our water resources is alarming," Moran said in an email Wednesday. "Further, it is imperative that the federal agencies stop kicking the can down the road and determine long term solutions for the removal of these materials safely and expeditiously."
Diane Turco, of Harwich, the director of Cape Downwinders, a citizen group that was at the forefront of the effort to close Pilgrim, called any option that included sending radioactive water into the bay "outrageous" and "criminal." Turco said she has no confidence in the decommissioning process.
"The process has been to allow radioactivity into the environment," she said. "The answer should be no you can't do that."
Richard Delaney, the president of the Center for Coastal Studies, agreed.
"My immediate reaction to putting radioactivity into the ocean, into that part of Cape Cod Bay is that it would be nature-negative," he said. "We have been monitoring water quality in Cape Cod Bay for 20 years and there's already enough pollutants going into the bay. To put radioactive waste on top of that — it shouldn't be an option."
Delaney said he wondered if it was included as an option to be analyzed, but one that in the end wouldn't seriously be considered. DuBois agreed.
"I have a hard time thinking the NRC overrules (the EPA)," duBois said, adding that Holtec will be careful about damaging the environment.
"I think Holtec wants to do this right because they want to be a giant of the (decommissioning) industry. If they mess up Pilgrim, their reputation is dead," duBois said.
Turco called on the public to start paying more attention to the decommissioning process and attend citizens advisory board meetings in person and remotely. But O'Brien and duBois said the public comment period pretty much passed with the issuance of the NPDES permit.
"I don't think there's a requirement for public comment," duBois said.
Contact Doug Fraser at dfraser@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dougfrasercct.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Pilgrim nuclear plant may release radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay
Tepco finds melting of ice wall at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant
An employee of TEPCO looks up at a tank reserved for storing treated water at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town
Thu, November 25, 2021,
TOKYO (Reuters) -Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) will launch remedial works at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to strengthen an ice wall intended to halt the flow of groundwater after testing indicated partial melting.
The work could begin as early as the start of December, according to a presentation from the plant operator dated Thursday, part of a costly and troubled effort to secure the site following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The ice wall is intended to limit the seepage of groundwater into the plant, which has created large amounts of toxic water being stored by Tepco in tanks.
Japan plans to release https://www.reuters.com/article/disaster-fukushima-water-release-idTRNIKBN2HQ0FT more than 1 million tonnes of water into the sea after treating it. The water contains the radioactive isotope tritium, which cannot be removed.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami and Sam Nussey; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)
An employee of TEPCO looks up at a tank reserved for storing treated water at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town
Thu, November 25, 2021,
TOKYO (Reuters) -Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) will launch remedial works at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to strengthen an ice wall intended to halt the flow of groundwater after testing indicated partial melting.
The work could begin as early as the start of December, according to a presentation from the plant operator dated Thursday, part of a costly and troubled effort to secure the site following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The ice wall is intended to limit the seepage of groundwater into the plant, which has created large amounts of toxic water being stored by Tepco in tanks.
Japan plans to release https://www.reuters.com/article/disaster-fukushima-water-release-idTRNIKBN2HQ0FT more than 1 million tonnes of water into the sea after treating it. The water contains the radioactive isotope tritium, which cannot be removed.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami and Sam Nussey; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant gets 13K nuclear waste shipments, plans to 'ramp up' to 17 a week
Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus
Fri, November 26, 2021
A 13,000th shipment of nuclear waste was delivered to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant repository near Carlsbad Nov. 11, marking a milestone since the facility first began accepting waste in 1999.
The shipment was made up of transuranic (TRU) waste from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory from that facility’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project.
About half of WIPP’s shipments in its lifetime came from the Idaho lab, about 6,600.
More: WIPP readies 8th panel to dispose of nuclear waste, altering air quality requirements
During that same week, eight shipments arrived at WIPP, including two from Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico.
TRU waste is made up of clothing materials, equipment and other wastes like sludge irradiated during nuclear operations.
Most of the shipments were labeled “contact-handled (CH) waste, meaning that have lower radioactivity than remote-handled (RH) waste and can be handled safely without additional shielding during processing, transportation and disposal emplacement.
More: WIPP: Air shaft project to resume despite objections at nuclear waste site near Carlsbad
Of the 13,000 shipments of waste sent to WIPP in the last two decades, 775 were considered RH waste, handled in shielded casks and emplaced in the walls of the WIPP underground – an underground salt deposit that gradually buried the waste permanently and blocks radiation.
To get that waste to the WIPP facility from nuclear sites owned by the DOE around the country, truck drivers logged about 15 million miles, per a DOE news release, without a “serious injury” or radiological release.
DOE Environmental Management (EM) Senior Adviser William White commended WIPP’s workers for reaching 13,000 shipments, including underground miners, waste handlers and drivers that move the waste across the country.
More: Safety issues at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant slow disposal of nuclear waste near Carlsbad
“It's another huge milestone for the EM program,” White said. “I want to congratulate everyone involved in this milestone, from the employees at the generator sites who certify and package the waste, to the workers at WIPP who mine the disposal rooms and prepare the waste before it's permanently disposed underground.”
WIPP’s first shipment was delivered for disposal from Los Alamos in March 1999, and the site went on to dispose of waste from 13 facilities around the U.S.
The final shipment from Rocky Flats and Environmental Technology Site in Colorado came in 2005, and the 10,000 shipment was received – also from Idaho – in 2011.
More: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant adds space for nuclear waste disposal near Carlsbad
The first RH waste shipment was disposed of at WIPP in 2007, and the facility hasn’t receive RH waste since 2014, although the process of resuming RH waste was underway and expected to take about three years.
Reinhard Knerr, manager of the DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office said WIPP was a key part of the DOE’s efforts to clean up nuclear waste in the U.S.
“WIPP continues to be the cornerstone of DOE’s efforts to reduce the legacy defense TRU waste footprint,” Knerr said. “WIPP’s transportation program has been a tremendous success, and I congratulate everyone involved on a job well done.”
More: Groups look to block controversial air shaft project at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
During a recent public meeting, Knerr explained WIPP’s progress in increasing weekly shipments in pursuit of a goal of 17 shipments per week.
Over the last year, Knerr said WIPP received 199 shipments. He touted continued waste emplacement despite multiple halts in operations amid the COVID-19 health crisis which first struck New Mexico in March 2020.
WIPP officials projected 258 shipments this year, Knerr said, but despite not reaching the goal he said he still considered the number “successful” during the pandemic.
More: U.S. Senate bill has implications for New Mexico nuclear waste projects
“Given the pandemic and the large spikes of COVID-19 that we’ve had in the community, we take a look back at this year as a very large success,” Knerr said. “We do project a ramp up to 17 shipments per week on average.”
Reinhard Knerr, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) gives an update on operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Nov. 18, 2021 at the CBFO building in Carlsbad.
That’s about 680 shipments per year, and WIPP will continue to prioritize shipments from Los Alamos and Idaho, Knerr said, for the “bulk” of the next decade.
Knerr said increasing shipments can be achieved ahead of an ongoing rebuild of the facility’s ventilation system planned to go into service in 2025 or 2026.
More: WIPP: Judge upholds change in how nuke waste is counted. Could keep site open to 2050
“We believe we’re going to be ready to resume increased shipments well before that,” he said.
To achieve that goal, Knerr said WIPP must complete multiple projects: filling and closing out the 7th waste disposal panel by 2022 and finishing emplacement in Panel 8 by 2025.
Then, he said WIPP hopes to emplace waste in Panels 11, 12 in the coming years and Panel 13 by 2034.
More: WIPP: Critics accuse feds of expanding nuclear waste repository before New Mexico task force
Plans were recently announced to mine Panels 11 and 12, described by WIPP officials as “replacement” panels for capacity lost in an accidental radiological release in 2014 that led to a three-year halt of WIPP’s primary operations.
To support the increase in waste emplacement and mining, Knerr said a fourth shift was intended to be added to the WIPP workforce.
“We have to make sure that we are mining,” Knerr said. “That includes the access drifts as well as mining out the panels themselves. We need to be sure that we have enough staff on site to support not only the mining needs that we have, but the waste emplacement as well.”
Adrian Hedden @AdrianHedden on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant gets 13K nuclear waste shipments
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