PLANT AGEING & LIFE MANAGEMENT |
In suspended animation?
A ruling by the US regulator means reactor owners who want to renew their licences a second time have hit a roadblock, NEI reports
Above: The Turkey Point nuclear power plant was the first in the USA to receive a ‘subsequent licence renewal’ to operate for up to 80 years
THE US NUCLEAR INDUSTRY IS approaching the end of its first round of life extensions. According to the US Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) there are currently no nuclear units under review for licence renewal in the USA that would extend reactor lives from the original 40 years to 60 years. There has been a two-year wait for a renewed licence — since March 2019, when Seabrook saw its licence extended to 2050. This is the longest break since the industry started its life extension programme in March 2000, when Calvert Cliffs completed a two-year process and was granted an extension to 2034. By 2019 reactors on 49 sites had seen their licences renewed, some in process taking less than 18 months (although some plants subsequently ceased operation, largely for economic reasons). A few more initial licence renewals are expected. When
US NEI put its summary together last year it expected Comanche Peak to submit an application between April and June this year. Perry 1 and 2 are expected to enter the process in the third quarter of 2023 and Clinton 1 will follow in the first quarter of 2024.
From 60 to 80 For the early movers — the oldest plants — life extension has moved on to the next phase: a so-called ‘subsequent licence renewal’ (SLR). For the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC) and US reactors, this refers to permission to renew the licence for a further 20 years, allowing a plant to operate for up to eight decades in total.
38 | April 2022 |
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Several plants have already passed the SLR test.
Turkey Point 3 and 4 were the first to apply, in January 2018, and their licences were renewed in April 2019. Peach Bottom 3 and 4 followed (applied in July 2018, granted in March 2020), and so did Surrey 1 and 2 (applied in October 2018, granted May 2021). But there is a problem. All three licences were withdrawn in February after the NRC decided that the environmental reports required were inadequate. The decision has not halted operation at the three plants — they continue to operate under the original licence renewals, but currently with the end-date applied to their originally renewed licence — but it presents a costly and uncertain new hurdle for the plants to cross to reinstate their SLRs. It also presents uncertainty and more cost for a score of other reactor operators that want to renew their licences to give their plants the opportunity to reach 80 years of life. The point at issue is the so-called “Generic Environmental
Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants” (GEIS) for SLRs. It sets out the environmental impacts that have to be considered in the environmental reviews addressed during licence renewal. It includes 78 issues, of which 59 are considered to apply at all sites. Because the measure dates back to 1996 it has been a foundation document for most previous licence renewals so it is well understood by applicants and other parties. But the use of the GEIS was challenged by several environmental groups — the Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth,
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