The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted an exemption to Duke Energy Florida’s Crystal River Unit 3, allowing the company to skip its 10-mile emergency planning zone responsibilities in light of the plant’s decommissioning. Duke announced last year that the unit was being permanently shut down. All fuel has been removed from the unit and placed in spent fuel pools. The NRC granted the exemption after determining that the probability of an accident is lower because of the unit’s cold status. All on-site responsibilities for the unit remain in effect.
More: Power Engineering
Survey Shows 86% of Americans Favor Developing Spent Fuel Repository
A new poll shows an 86% majority of those asked favor the development of a federal facility for the storage of spent nuclear fuel in the country. The poll, commissioned by the Nuclear Energy Institute and performed by Bisconti Research, had a margin of error of plus/minus 3%.
Poll results show a less clear picture of who should be in charge of such a repository. Fifty-four percent indicated they thought a hybrid structure of a federal authority steered by a corporate-style board should oversee such a site, with 39% holding to a federal agency-type governance. The poll was conducted just before the introduction in the Senate of legislation that establishing an independent entity to oversee nuclear waste management.
“The public may express changing views about who should manage the storage facilities, but support for consolidating used nuclear fuel has been constant for a long time,” Bisconti Research President Ann Bisconti said.
More: Nuclear Energy Institute
Interior Secretary Reaffirms 2008 Arctic Drilling Site Auction
In a move that opens the Chukchi Sea to exploratory drilling again, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell this week reaffirmed the government’s auction of drilling rights in the Arctic, saying the region “is an important component of the administration’s national energy strategy.”
Drilling in the Arctic region was halted during a challenge by environmentalists, who argued in federal court that the department’s environmental impact statement was flawed. The results of a new court-ordered study were filed as part of the department’s decision.
Jewell’s affirmation of the auction keeps the door open for Shell Oil to restart its exploratory work in the Chukchi Sea, about 70 miles off the Alaskan coast, this summer. The company must still receive several permits from other agencies, but it is already moving equipment north in anticipation of restarting work.
More: SF Gate
Former DOE Secretary’s Move to Private Sector Under Investigation
Former Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman’s recent hiring as Centrus Energy’s new CEO is being examined by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Poneman, in his role with the Department of Energy, worked with the uranium enrichment company when it was known as USEC. During that time, USEC received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds, according to Politico. House investigators have requested five years’ worth of documents from his time with the department, with an emphasis on any communication between USEC, Centrus and Poneman, who could make up to $1.7 million a year in his new job.
“Given Mr. Poneman’s involvement in the numerous dealings between DOE and USEC since 2009, we are concerned that he may have violated post-employment laws for federal personnel,” Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Interior subcommittee Chairwoman Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) wrote in a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.
A Centrus spokesman said there was nothing improper about Poneman’s activities. “At no time during his employment with the Department of Energy did anyone affiliated with Centrus contact Mr. Poneman to discuss future employment opportunities,” the spokesman said.
More: Politico
NRC Increases Oversight at Vogtle After Waste-Shipping Mistake
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is increasing its oversight at the operating units of Southern Co.’s Vogtle nuclear generating station near Augusta, Ga., after employees used a wrong container to store and ship radioactive waste. The incident occurred last June, when employees shipped a cask of spent resin radioactive waste to a processing facility in South Carolina. The cask was only approved for storage of a lower class of radioactive waste, according to the agency. Employees at the processing facility noticed the mistake. Vogtle was fined $8,000. Southern said it has instituted increased training and improved procedures.
More: The Augusta Chronicle
NRC Finds 3 of Entergy’s Nukes Have Enough Decommission Funds
In response to a petition filed in 2013 by four anti-nuclear groups to order the closing of Entergy’s FitzPatrick and Vermont Yankee plants because of inadequate decommissioning funds, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that the plants’ funds are in order. In a preliminary decision released last week, the NRC found that the now-closed Vermont Yankee plant, the FitzPatrick plant in New York and the Pilgrim plant in Massachusetts were all “operating safely and addition actions were not required.” The agency also reviewed financial records relating to the Pilgrim plant and issued a similar finding that there was enough money in Vermont Yankee’s decommission fund.
More: Vermont Digger
LaFleur Questioned on Pipeline Review Policies by Va. Officials
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Cheryl LaFleur is getting a lot of mail from Virginia officials lately. On March 23, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner shot her a missive asking her about the rules surrounding public meetings in response to concerns about a controversial Dominion Resources-led pipeline proposal, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
On Friday, the Nelson County Board of Supervisors sent two letters to LaFleur, one asking to extend the scoping period for the proposed line by an additional 30 days, and a second asking her to schedule another scoping meeting. Pipeline opponents have complained that the public hearing process is rigged, after they arrived to find most of the speaking slots taken by the line’s supporters.
A FERC spokeswoman said that scoping meetings are not required as part of the FERC review and wouldn’t comment on the letters.
More: Nelson County Times
NY Underground Pumped Storage Project Application Filed with FERC
A $264.1 million plan to develop a 260-MW pumped storage project in an abandoned mine complex in New York is under review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Albany Engineering filed applications on behalf of its subsidiary Moriah Hydro to construct the facility at three interconnected mines near the town of Moriah. It would use the flow of underground water through the mines to drive five reversible pump turbines. Electricity would be sent underground about a mile to an existing National Grid 115-kV transmission line.
More: HydroWorld (subscription required); Press Republican
Compiled by Ted Caddell