Duke Energy has submitted its decommissioning plan for the Crystal River Nuclear Plant, known as CR3, in Florida to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The plan, called the Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR), includes a decommissioning description, cost estimate and schedule. It also includes a management strategy for storing used nuclear fuel on site.
“Decommissioning the Crystal River Nuclear Plant will be a well-defined process with significant NRC oversight,” said Crystal River Decommissioning Director Terry Hobbs. “Nuclear safety will remain our top priority. The plant will remain in a safe, stable condition, and our comprehensive emergency plan and 24/7 security force will remain in place.”
Decommissioning plan highlights:
- Duke Energy has selected the “SAFSTOR” decommissioning option – one of three options approved by the NRC and one chosen by several other retired U.S. nuclear plants. With this option, the plant will be placed in a safe, stable condition for 60 years until decommissioning work is completed in 2074.
- The estimated decommissioning cost is $1.18 billion in today’s (2013) dollars. Duke Energy believes the company’s existing nuclear decommissioning trust fund, including future growth of the fund and funds from the plant’s nine other owners, will be sufficient to decommission the plant.
- Radiological and environmental monitoring will continue during the decommissioning process to ensure safety and environmental protection.
- The plant’s used nuclear fuel will remain in the existing on-site fuel pool until a new, on-site, dry-cask storage facility is built. The plant has safely stored its used fuel on site for 35 years, since the facility’s first refueling in 1978. All U.S. nuclear plants store used fuel on site – either in fuel pools or dry casks – because the U.S. does not have a central federal repository for used nuclear fuel.
Filing the decommissioning plan with the NRC prompts two main activities. First, within 60 days, the NRC will hold a public meeting to discuss the decommissioning plan and their oversight process. And second, within 90 days, the plant may begin major decommissioning activities and access 100 percent of the decommissioning fund.
To serve as an information resource for the public, the nuclear plant has launched a decommissioning website, www.duke-energy.com/CR3.