News Archive 2002

As Space Runs Out, Indian Point Plans to Change Storage of Spent Fuel
WINNIE HU

The New York Times
4/17/2002

BUCHANAN, N.Y., April 16 -- Behind locked doors and armed security at the Indian Point nuclear plant, technicians in hard hats and safety glasses watch over a pair of turquoise pools that have become an interim grave for radioactive waste. Here rests all the fuel that has ever passed through the plant's two working reactors.

But as these pools run out of space, the workers at Indian Point find themselves agreeing with many in the antinuclear movement over what to do with the spent fuel: put it into massive, sealed containers made of steel and concrete in a process known as dry-cask storage. Only they do not agree for the same reasons.

While the plant's owner, the Entergy Corporation, says the dry casks will allow it to keep operating by freeing up storage space, opponents -- many of whom want to close the plant -- say they believe the new system is far safer and less vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The existing spent fuel, they say, contains more radioactive material than the reactor core, and is stored in open pools inside metal buildings that lack the protection of a concrete dome.

''I think lots of people have looked at the spent fuel pools and said, 'How can we make it safer?' '' said Marilyn Elie, a member of the Westchester chapter of the Citizens Awareness Network, which is calling for the decommissioning of Indian Point. ''Get it into concrete, and get it isolated.''

Both Entergy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials say that the pools are safe, and that even after the dry casks are introduced at Indian Point, a process that is expected to begin in 2004, recently used fuel will still be submerged for a cooling period of about five years. ''The pools are not vulnerable,'' said Jim Steets, an Entergy spokesman. ''We're just running out of room, period.''

The radioactive waste produced by nuclear plants has long posed a problem for their owners and the federal government. Even if the nation's 103 operating commercial reactors were to shut down tomorrow, that would still leave about 45,000 metric tons of spent fuel, by industry estimates, to be kept in isolation for many years to come.

Nuclear reactors were once expected to reuse their fuel, but commercial reprocessing plants turned out to be a technical and financial failure. Then, in the 1980's, the federal government proposed a national repository where spent reactor fuel could be buried. Originally scheduled to open in 1998, the proposed site at Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, faces formidable opposition and is not scheduled to be ready until at least 2010, if at all.

For now, nuclear power plants have to keep their growing supplies of spent fuel on site in 40-foot-deep pools that were never intended to double as long-term storage bins. The pools have mechanical cooling and filtration systems that circulate water past the spent fuel rods, which continue to generate heat years after being removed from the reactor.

Indian Point's technicians place a new set of spent fuel rods in the cooling pools every two years. So far, the working reactors have filled 1,823 of the 2,719 available rack spaces in the pools. Without additional storage, the Indian Point 2 reactor is expected to reach its pool capacity by 2004, while the younger Indian Point 3 has until 2008. (In addition, about one-third of the spent fuel from a long inactive reactor, Indian Point 1, remains stored in another pool. The rest was sent to a reprocessing plant from 1966 to 1970.)

As much as possible, the cooling pools here are kept free of contaminants and are guarded from intruders. During a visit last week to Indian Point 3, a reporter and photographer were greeted at the plant entrance by armed security officers and National Guardsmen and escorted through four checkpoints that included metal, explosives and radiation detectors.

The steel-lined, concrete-sided pool, when finally reached, was no larger than a basketball court and seemed even smaller than that in the cavernous room. The constantly flowing water had turned turquoise from the boron that was added to inhibit reactions. The fuel rods themselves were barely visible, just a shadowy mass deep below the surface.

''See how small it is,'' Mr. Steets said. ''It's just a little pool. How could anyone be worried about that?''

Dry-cask storage, which was introduced in the 1980's, has become increasingly prevalent as nuclear plants like Indian Point run out of room and options. The Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington organization that represents nuclear plant owners and operators, said that 18 nuclear plants had already turned to dry-cask storage, and that 20 more would run out of space in their cooling pools by 2004.

John Sanchez, a project manager for spent fuel storage at Indian Point, estimated that Entergy would eventually need 55 dry casks for each working reactor. The casks, which cost $500,000 to $1 million each, are typically placed on a concrete pad in a secure, outdoor area. Entergy has not yet designated a place for them at Indian Point.

The regulatory commission currently allows the casks to be stored at plants for up to 20 years, with provisions for an extension of another 20 years. After that, commission officials expect the fuel to be sent to a national repository for permanent disposal. ''It was all meant for an interim solution,'' said John Monninger, chief of the commission's spent fuel licensing section.

Most nuclear opponents and others remain skeptical about the long-term safety and effectiveness of both spent fuel storage systems. And in past years, it was not uncommon for antinuclear groups to try to prevent dry casks from being used at the plants, in hopes of forcing them to close once their pools filled up.

But today, many nuclear opponents support the move to dry casks -- though often grudgingly -- because they say that sealed containers are less vulnerable to accidents and sabotage than open pools. ''We know the problems of dry casks so well,'' said Kevin Kamps, a nuclear waste specialist for the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an antinuclear group in Washington. ''These are the kinds of dilemmas we're faced with because nuclear waste exists.''

In Westchester, a growing number of antinuclear groups, elected officials and residents have called on Entergy to increase protection of the spent fuel rods by moving them to dry casks, among other things. Assemblywoman Sandra R. Galef, whose district includes Indian Point, has collected more than 1,000 petition signatures to send to commission and Entergy officials.

''I do think the casks are more secure,'' said Ms. Galef, a frequent critic of Indian Point who wants the plant to remain open because it generates much-needed electricity. ''And it gets the spent fuel ready to move. They weren't meant to be here, and they have to move.''

Entergy's Response

In addition to being small in size, the present storage facilities for used nuclear fuel are mostly underground and are shielded by surrounding structures. The fuel itself has a protective metal cladding capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures.

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