Hearing on expanded nuclear
waste storage scheduled for just before Christmas
By Will Collette
Last summer, I reported
on plans by the Millstone nuclear power plant, located just 20 miles due
west of Charlestown, to dramatically increase the amount of high-level radioactive
waste that will be stored indefinitely on site, and on problems Millstone had
with its cooling water.
The plant, owned by
Virginia-based Dominion Energy, hopes to get regulatory approval for its plan
to store 3.6 million pounds of radioactive waste in dry cask. Since there is no
permanent nuclear waste repository in the US, most nuclear power plants store
their waste on site, either in cooling ponds or in casks, or both.
The cooling ponds are not
considered safe long-term storage since they could be breached by natural
events, accident or sabotage. The disastrous Fukushima power plant accident was
caused when the cooling water system for its waste was compromised by last
year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, leading to a massive fire that caused
exposure and contamination far beyond 20 miles from the site.
On November 19, the NRC cited
Millstone for safety violations that occurred during an
emergency preparedness exercise it conducted with state and
local agencies in the surrounding communities.
The NRC determined that
Millstone failed to have adequate steps in place to instruct its staff on
procedures to test cooling water for radioactivity.
That safety deficiency was
exposed during the emergency drill. Under NRC rules, cooling water must be
tested within 15 minutes of the declaration of an emergency. Luckily, this was
only a drill. Finding this problem during the drill is exactly why drills are
important.
While it’s great to catch
problems before anyone gets hurt, this isn’t
the first time Millstone has been cited. Plus, this emergency
exercise took place while one of the
Millstone reactors had to be shut down because the ocean water it
used for cooling was too warm.
This latest safety violation
is likely to come up when Millstone has its hearing on
December 20 on its proposal to expand its radioactive waste storage. Click here. The
hearing docket is #265A.
The Connecticut Siting
Council will conduct the hearing, which will take place in the Waterford Town
Hall from 2 PM to 7 PM. The Council plans to issue its draft decision on
January 24th and its final decision five days later.