1. The 3 Yankee Companies Shutdown Sites Storing Stranded SNF and GTCC Waste
NEHLRW Transportation Taskforce Meeting
June 8, 2016 Orlando, FL
Eric Howes, Director Public & Government Affairs, Maine Yankee

2. Presentation Overview
The 3 Yankee Companies: shutdown commercial sites without an operating reactor storing stranded SNF and GTCC waste; all 3 are “ISFSI Only” sites
Transportation and storage challenges associated with stranded SNF
National status of the SNF removal/disposal issue
Pilot Consolidated Interim Storage: a promising pathway to SNF removal starting with shutdown sites

3. 13 Shutdown Site Locations (courtesy of DOE)
Trojan
Humboldt Bay
Rancho Seco
Zion
La Crosse
Big Rock Point
Maine Yankee
Yankee Rowe
CT Yankee
Crystal River
Kewaunee
San Onofre
Vermont Yankee
13 Shutdown Site Locations (courtesy of DOE)

4. 3 Yankees: Stranded Fuel Storage Sites
Maine Yankee, Connecticut Yankee, & Yankee Rowe were single unit sites shutdown in the 90’s; all SNF & GTCC moved to stand-alone ISFSIs by 2005; NAC International canisters licensed for Storage & Transport; plant structures removed; sites environmentally restored; plant decommissionings complete by 2007.
Yankee sites have been stand-alone ISFSIs for over 10 years.

5. 3 Yankees: Stranded Fuel Storage Sites
Three companies have been in litigation with the federal government since 1998 to recover costs resulting from the government's failure to fulfill its contractual obligations. The courts have awarded the three companies about $470m for damages through 2012.
When DOE fulfills its contractual obligations to remove SNF & GTCC, the ISFSIs will be decommissioned, NRC licenses terminated, three companies will go out of business, properties will be available for other uses.

6. 3 Yankees: Stranded Fuel Storage Sites
Until then, as NRC licensees, the three companies are required to stay in business and are responsible for storing the 115 SNF canisters & 8 GTCC canisters in accordance with all regulatory requirements at an average cost per company of about $10 m/year.
Court confirmed in most recent decision that had DOE performed as required by contract MY would have been out of business by end 2008, CY and YR by end 2010.

7. Connecticut Yankee Site
Former Barge Slip

8. Yankee Rowe Site

9. Maine Yankee Site
Barge Slip

10. Maine Yankee ISFSI
Railroad Track

11. Transportation Challenges
DOE team visited the 3 Yankee sites in 2012 to evaluate site infrastructure for SNF/GTCC removal. Report: Preliminary Evaluation of Removing Used Nuclear Fuel from Shutdown Sites .
Equipment will have to be mobilized to transfer SNF & GTCC canisters to transportation casks when DOE begins meeting its obligation.
We are encouraged DOE has contracted for the rail car design, but the transport casks have yet to be manufactured, procured by DOE.

12. Large Radioactive Components Shipped During Decommissioning

13. Storage Challenges
Some Examples of shutdown site storage challenges:
Developing/Implementing Aging Management Program together with NRC, industry, EPRI - a very large effort.
Renewing NAC canister storage licenses which expire in 2020; a multi-year effort at the 3 Yankee sites involving the companies, vendor and NRC.
This summer removing GTCC lid to inspect beneath it and also inspecting canister with camera. Also, atmospheric monitoring ongoing, especially for chlorides. Results will benefit 3 Yankees and industry.

14. Status SNF Removal/Disposal Issue
The SNF removal/disposal program has been stalled since 2010 when the Administration stopped the Yucca Mountain program with no plan B in place.
Meaningful program reform is unlikely this year given the November election and continued differences between the House and Senate on SNF policy.
The House Energy & Water Approps Committee bill contains $150 m for YM and $20 m for NRC to continue work on the YM license application.

15. Status SNF Removal/Disposal Issue
The committee bill failed to pass the House on May 26 due to amendments unrelated to nuclear waste.
The Senate E&W bill was approved by the Senate on May 12, It provides for a pilot consolidated interim storage program for SNF at shutdown sites and authority for DOE to enter into contracts with private entities for the management of SNF DOE holds title to and $10 million for that purpose from DOE NE, not the NWF.
The House bill does not mention CIS and the Senate bill does not mention Yucca Mountain.

16. Status SNF Removal/Disposal Issue
Congressman Conaway (R, TX) and Congressman Mulvaney (R,SC) each have bills in the House that would implement a pilot CIS program and allow DOE to contract with private entities. No hearing scheduled on either bill.
Rep Matsui (D,CA), Pingree (D, ME) and others sent a letter in March to the House Chair/Ranking Member Appropriations Committee urging bill language supporting a pilot CIS.
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Shimkus (R, IL) supports funding for YM and opposes CIS. He has indicated he is likely to submit a bill to address among other items land ownership and water rights issues at YM.

17. Status SNF Removal/Disposal Issue
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Upton (R, MI) and Subcommittee Chairman Shimkus sent a letter in late February requesting the U.S. Government Accountability Office assess the DOE’s ability to complete the Yucca Mountain License Application.
Chairman Upton and Subcommittee Chairman Shimkus also sent a letter in March to Secretary Moniz with questions seeking information relating to DOE’s nuclear waste management policy authorities in addition to Yucca Mountain and that DOE not take any actions that would impact the future viability of Yucca Mountain.

18. Pilot CIS Program: A Promising Pathway
CIS should be a key near term component of an integrated waste management program since a permanent geologic repository is likely decades away or later?
Implementing a Pilot program with priority removal of SNF from shutdown sites to a CIS facility is consistent with the BRC recommendations and is a milestone in DOE’s 2013 strategy.
The pilot program for CIS has bipartisan support and is embodied in House and Senate bills.

19. Pilot CIS Program: A Promising Pathway
A pilot CIS program to remove SNF from shutdown reactor sites would:
Demonstrate the federal government’s ability to safely manage/transport SNF/GTCC waste and end the government’s liability at these sites;
Restore trust that the government can meet its obligations;
Make more efficient & cost effective the storage/security of the SNF;
Provide a nearer term solution than a geologic repository.
As the Chairs of the 4 NE citizens advisory panels said in their Nov 2015 letter to the NE congressional delegation: Indefinite on-site storage of this material stranded in the communities we live and work in is unacceptable. We agree.

20. Pilot CIS Program: A Promising Pathway
And as you know there are sites that want to host a CIS facility…
Private initiatives in West TX and SE NM are moving forward. Waste Control Specialists in TX submitted a license application for a proposed CIS Facility to the NRC April 28. WCS has indicated their facility could be complete as early as 2021 if the NRC license is issued and legislative and contractual issues are resolved in that timeframe.
The Eddy-Lea Alliance in SE NM is expected to submit their license application to the NRC for a proposed CIS facility in November this year and hopes to have their facility operational in a timeframe similar to WCS.

21. Pilot CIS Program: A Promising Pathway
As stated by the four NE Community Advisory Panel Chairs in their Nov 2015 letter to the NE congressional delegation: “We believe that the federal government can meet its obligation in the nearer term by implementing a pilot consolidated interim storage project focused initially on the removal of SNF from sites without an operating reactor”… “Progress toward a repository must also occur but not at the expense of addressing the needs of our communities that could be achieved in the nearer term.”

22. Thank you. Questions?