Lusby, MD – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has announced that it has approved a 40-year license extension for the dry cask storage facility at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby. The casks are used to store the plant’s spent fuel.
According to a press release from the NRC, the plant’s operator, Exelon, submitted a request to renew the license in 2010. Since the NRC deemed the request a “timely renewal,” the Calvert Cliffs request was held harmless from expiration while the commission’s staff reviewed the request.
Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC, stated a final decision on the Calvert Cliffs application “was on hold while the Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule was undergoing the environmental review. With the commission’s recent approval of the rule, that hold was lifted.”
The new expiration date for the storage facility is November 2052.
Sheehan stated that dry cask storage facilities such as the one at Calvert Cliffs are also referred to as Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSIs).
According to the Calvert Cliffs application, “the principal components are a horizontal storage module (HSM) comprised of concrete and structural steel and a steel dry shielded canister (DSC) with an internal basket which holds the spent fuel. The exterior walls and roof of the HSM are 3 feet thick, and the interior walls are two feet thick. Each HSM contains one DSC and each DSC contains 24 fuel assemblies.”
A call to Exelon for comment on the license renewal had not been returned as this story was being filed.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com