Diablo Canyon set to start loading dry casks in June

PG&E’s decision to begin moving its spent fuel to above-ground canisters sparked a legal battle

David Sneed - dsneed@thetribunenews.com

Operators at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant will begin loading the first dry cask with highly radioactive used reactor fuel on June 1.

The decision by plant owners Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to begin transferring its spent fuel to above-ground canisters touched off a groundbreaking legal battle with local antinuclear activists in 2002 — and it continues to this day.

San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace wants federal regulators to require that PG&E take additional steps to protect the storage facility from terrorist attacks.

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The utility plans to load eight canisters with spent fuel rods from one reactor during this first batch, PG&E spokeswoman Emily Christensen said. Each cask is expected to take 10 days to load. Another eight dry casks will be loaded with fuel from the other reactor in spring 2010.

Each cask will be submerged in the spent fuel storage pool, where the fuel will be loaded. The casks will then be hoisted out of the pool, drained and loaded onto a specially designed transporter, which will move the canister to a thick concrete storage pad behind the plant. A protective casing will be placed over each cask and it will be bolted upright to the pad.

The utility had hoped to begin loading casks late last year. However equipment problems and modifications to the spent fuel storage building caused delays, Christensen said.

This forced PG&E to wait until it completed the plant’s current refueling outage. Four steam generators are also being installed during this outage.

Like all nuclear plants in the United States, Diablo Canyon is running out of room in its below-ground storage pools. Transferring the fuel to above-ground casks is the industry standard.

The dry cask facility will allow the plant to continue to operate uninterrupted, said James Becker, plant manager. Diablo Canyon provides about 10 percent of the state’s electricity.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Mothers for Peace wanted a detailed analysis of the environmental damage a terrorist attack would cause on the dry cask facility. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission refused and the anti-nuclear group successfully sued the agency in federal court.

The agency responded by producing a longer report, but one that was far shorter than full-blown environmental impact statement that the group was seeking. The NRC argued that the full report was not needed and could result in releasing sensitive security details to the public.

The case was closely watched nationwide because the agency’s decision set a precedent that all other nuclear plants must follow.

Mothers for Peace have sued the agency again in federal court. This time they want the agency to require that the dry cask facility be strengthened to reduce the likelihood of a terrorist attack resulting in a release of radiation. Possible improvements include stronger casks, placing them in bunkers or dispersing them over a wider area so that they do not present one big target, said Diane Curran, Mother for Peace attorney.

“These are all feasible alternatives for minimizing the impacts of a terrorist attack on the Diablo Canyon facility,” she said.

The Mothers for Peace lawsuit is still pending, and the group is considering whether to ask the court for a stay.