The End Of A Nuclear Era: Oyster Creek's Last Day Is Monday

LACEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - It's been almost 49 years since the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station first opened for business, on Dec. 23, 1969.

It's been running ever since then, barring planned and unplanned shutdowns. Today that comes to an end. The plant will cease operations permanently. But the decommissioning process will take years.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to keep a resident inspector on the site for the next several months, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

"The inspector will be focusing on the site’s safe transition from an operating reactor to one that is entering the decommissioning phase of its life cycle," he said.

The NRC will continue to review decommissioning activities at the plant.

"A key focus in the next several years will be on the transfer of spent nuclear fuel from the spent fuel pool to dry cask storage," Sheehan said.

Oyster Creek's operating license technically runs until April 9, 2019. But Exelon, the plant's owner, shocked many earlier this year when they announced plans to shut down in September. The plant has been a major taxpayer in Lacey since it opened.

Some of the reasons for the shutdown were primarily economic, Bryan Hanson Exelon's President and Chief Nuclear Officer has said.

"The decision will also help Exelon better manage resources as fuel and maintenance costs continue to rise amid historically low power prices," Hanson said.

Oyster Creek's presence in Lacey Township actually began on Dec. 1, 1964, when Lacey Township approved the plant's construction permit.

Camden-based Holtec International and Exelon announced in late July that Holtec wants to buy Oyster Creek, a move they say will speed up the decades-long decommissioning of the oldest nuclear plant in the United States.
The sale is "good news" for Lacey and New Jersey, said Hanson.

"With three decades of experience in nuclear fuel technologies and a partnership with global decommissioning leader SNC-Lavalin, Holtec is ideally positioned to complete the decommissioning of Oyster Creek safely and swiftly," he said.

Holtec will own all Oyster Creek properties, including the spent nuclear fuel, and will take over all of the plant's decommissioning and restoration activities, according to joint release issued by both companies.
SubscribeExelon will not make the sale price public, spokesperson Suzanne D'ambrosio said.

"Details of this transaction, including the sale price, are confidential and are not suitable for release at this time," she said.

The purchase would take place in the third quarter of 2019, pending the approval of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other other agencies.

Sheehan has said the two companies need to apply to the NRC to transfer Oyster Creek's license before any sale could take place.

"We would review the proposal to ensure the new owner had the technical and financial capabilities to safely decommission the plant and to appropriately manage the spent nuclear fuel until such time that there is a permanent or interim repository able to receive it," Sheehan has said.

The plan would also need approvals from other agencies, such as the state Board of Public Utilities, he said.

"We would have nothing to say about the specifics of the proposal until we've had an opportunity to review the license transfer application," Sheehan said.

Dr. Kris Singh, Holtec President and CEO, said Holtec will contract with Comprehensive Decommissioning International, LLC (CDI) to perform the decontamination and decommissioning of the plant. CDI is a joint venture company of Holtec and SNC-Lavalin based in Camden.

Singh claims that CDI can complete the decommissioning process much faster than Exelon.

"With its experience and state-of-the-art technologies, CDI is well equipped to decommission Oyster Creek within eight years, more than 50 years ahead of the industry-allowed 60-year timeline.," he said.

Holtec will submit a new Oyster Creek decommissioning plan, which must be reviewed and approved by the NRC. The public will have opportunities to review and comment on the plan durin the NRC's evaluation process, Singh said.

The funds from the site's decommissioning trust will be transferred to Holtec upon closing and will be used by Holtec to cover the cost of the decommissioning. The trust fund was established decades ago to pay for decommissioning, and no additional funds from utility customers will be required.

The principal structures at OCNGS site include a reactor building that houses primary containment and the reactor, turbine building, office buildings, old and new radwaste buildings, an off-gas building, emergency diesel generators, intake and discharge structures, ventilation stack, storage tanks, warehouse, security structures, and dry fuel storage facility.

Patch will continue to look at the plant's history and eventual closure and how it will affect Lacey Township in upcoming stories.

Photo: Patricia A. Miller