Exelon Officially Notifies NRC Of Early Oyster Creek Closure

LACEY TOWNSHIP, NJ -Exelon Corporation recently notified the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission in writing of its plans to close the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant more than a year early.

The notification came several weeks after Exelon had first made the early closure public in a press release.

Michael P. Gallagher, Exelon's Vice President of License Renewal and Decommission, wrote
about plans to close the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant more than a year early in a Feb. 14 letter to the NRC.

The subject of the letter was "Certification of Permanent Cessation of Power Operations for Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station."

"...this letter certifies Exelon's determination to permanently cease operations at OCNGS no later than Oct. 31, 2018.

Exelon issued a press release in early February that the plant would close more than a year earlier than the previous closure date at the end of December 2019.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission had no advance notice that the owners of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant here were planning to shut down the aging plant more than a year earlier, an NRC spokesperson said on Feb. 2.

"It was a corporate decision," NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said then. "We learned about it this morning. We were planning for a permanent shutdown of the plant in late 2019. We will have to adjust our plans in response to the announcement."

Although the plant will cease operations in October, rather than December 2019, Oyster Creek will still have to follow a lengthy process to decommission the plant.

"Our regulations state that the decommissioning process for a nuclear power plant must be completed within 60 years," Sheehan said.

Exelon will have to submit a Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) - a roadmap for how it plans to decommission Oyster Creek, he said

Decommissioning options include immediate dismantlement, long-term storage (also known as SAFSTOR) or a hybrid approach, which would include some early dismantlement of structures, followed by some long-term storage, with the rest of the dismantlement taking place some time in the future, Sheehan said.

"We will review the PSDAR to ensure it complies with our decommissioning requirements," he said.

Oyster Creek is the oldest nuclear plant in the United States. It went online in December 1969.

Bryan Hanson, Exelon President and Chief Nuclear Officer said that Exelon would offer a position in Exelon to any employee that wants to stay with the company.

Photo: Patricia A. Miller