The 3 Yankee Companies Interim Storage Sites for

SNF & GTCC Waste

NEHLRW Transportation Taskforce Meeting Portsmouth, NH, December 16, 2015

Eric Howes, Maine Yankee Director Public & Govt Affairs

Overview of 3 Yankee Companies• Located in Wiscasset, ME, Haddam, CT, Rowe, MA: single unit former commercial nuclear

power plants shutdown for economic reasons in the 90’s; all SNF & GTCC moved to stand-alone ISFSIs by 2005 in NAC International dry casks licensed by NRC for storage & Transport; plant structures removed; sites restored; decommissioning complete by 2007.

• When federal government fulfills its obligation to remove SNF & GTCC, as required by contract and NWPA, ISFSIs will be decommissioned, three companies will go out of business, property will be available for other use.

• Until then, as NRC licensees, the three companies are responsible for storing the 115 SNF canisters & 8 GTCC canisters in accordance with all regulatory requirements at an average cost per site of about $10 m/year.

• Three companies have been in litigation with the federal government since 1998 to recover costs resulting from the government's failure to perform as required. The courts have awarded about $400 m for damages through 2008. Trial completed this past summer in U.S. Court of Federal Claims for damages incurred 2009-2012. Post-trial briefs scheduled to be complete early February 2016.

3 Yankee ISFSI sitesTransportation Considerations

• When DOE begins meeting its obligation to transport SNF & GTCC from the 3 sites, equipment will have to be mobilized to transfer the canisters to transportation casks. Other than two transfer casks (lacking shield doors) used at CY during the ISFSI loading campaign there is no equipment for this purpose at the sites.

• Transportation casks for the canisters and rail cars have yet to be manufactured/procured by DOE. We are encouraged DOE is moving forward on the rail car design and fabrication.

• MY has a rail spur and barge slip; CY had a barge slip. This infrastructure was used during decommissioning. Heavy haul to rail was used at both YR and CY during decommissioning.

• Large radioactive components were safely shipped from all three sites during decommissioning.

Large Radioactive Components Shipped During Decommissioning

Maine Yankee ISFSI

Rail Tracks

Maine Yankee Site

Barge SlipB

Connecticut Yankee Site

Former Barge Slip

Connecticut Yankee ISFSI

Yankee Rowe Site

Adjacent Hydroelectric

Dam

Yankee Rowe ISFSI

National Nuclear Waste Repository Program Status

• Federal government stopped the YM Repository program in 2010, and in 2013federal court mandated that the NRC continue reviewing the DOE’s YM LA usingpreviously appropriated funds.

• NRC completed 5 Volume Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation Report report in January 2015 . The SER contains the staff’s finding that the repository post closure requirements could be met. The staff also concluded that the agency should not authorize construction because the applicant has not acquired ownership or jurisdiction over the land/water rights.

• In August 2015 NRC released “a draft environmental impact statement supplement on the effects of a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.” “The supplement finds that the impacts would be “small.” It describes the affected environment with respect to the groundwater flow path from the repository. The public comment period on the draft EIS supplement ended in November.

• NRC had approximately $2.7 m remaining in the YM licensing account as of the end of October .

Consolidated Interim Storage • We are encouraged by the bi-partisan support for priority removal of SNF from shutdown

sites to CIS that includes DOE, NARUC, NWSC, NEI, many elected officials, and the chairs of the NE citizens advisory panels for MY, CY, YR, and VT.

• Oct 28, 2015 NWSC letter to Senate and House Appropriators: “Congress and the Administration should facilitate consolidated interim storage (CIS) as a way for the federal government to begin meeting its obligations, particularly removal of used fuel stranded at sites without an operating reactor. We support Congressional authorization and funding for a pilot storage project to begin consolidating used fuel from these shutdown reactor sites as soon as possible.”

• Nov 16, 2015 letter from CAP chairs to NE del: “…urging meaningful action in this session of Congress to overcome the national nuclear waste management policy impasse. Indefinite on-site storage of this material stranded in the communities we live and work in is unacceptable.”

“We believe that the federal government can meet its obligation in the nearer term by implementing a pilot consolidated interim storage project focused initially on the removal of SNF from sites without an operating reactor…”

Consolidated Interim Storage continued

“Consolidating SNF from the shutdown reactor sites would return these sites to productive use in the host communities, make the storage and security of this material more efficient, more cost effective, and arguably more safe, while ending the federal government’s increasing liability at these sites.”

“We are encouraged by news of the two entities in Texas and New Mexico proposing to license, construct and operate consolidated interim storage facilities in volunteer host communities with plans to be operational in the 2020 timeframe. We strongly urge your support of legislation that directs DOE to engage with entities and communities interested in storing the SNF/HLW from our sites on an interim basis.”

“Progress toward a repository must also occur, but not at the expense of addressing the needs of our communities that could be achieved in the nearer term.”

Congress Remains Divided on SNF Issue

• Since the end of Sept the govt has been funded by short term CRs. Congress is currently negotiating an omnibus appropriations bill to fund the govt for the remainder of the FY. The bill is not expected to include funding for CIS or YM.

• In March, a bi-partisan comprehensive nuclear waste reform bill (S. 854) that would largely implement the BRC recommendations was introduced. The bill includes a provision to establish a pilot consolidated interim storage facility to remove material from the permanently shutdown sites. No mention of YM.

• In May, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY '16 Energy & Water Appropriations bill which included a pilot program for consolidated interim storage of SNF and would allow the DOE to store SNF at private facilities such as those proposed in Texas and New Mexico. No mention of YM.

• In May, the House approved the Energy & Water Development Subcommittee FY 2016 appropriations bill. The bill continues House efforts to support the YM repository, providing $150 million for the Nuclear Waste Disposal program and $25 million for the NRC to continue the adjudication of DOE’s YM License application. The House bill does not mention CIS.

Congress Remains Divided on SNF Issue cont.

• In September Texas Rep Conaway introduced the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015 that among other provisions seeks to amend the NWPA to clarify the authority of the DOE to enter into contracts with private parties who have secured licenses from the NRC for the storage of spent nuclear fuel pending the completion of the licensing and construction of the Yucca Mountain repository and it provides for the priority removal of spent nuclear fuel from the shutdown sites.

• House Energy Committee Subcommittee Chairman Shimkus has held a number of hearings this fall on the SNF issue and is expected to introduce a nuclear waste bill that will address the YM repository obstacles such as land and water rights and is also expected to include provisions addressing consolidated interim storage.

Summary

• How the differences between the House and Senate on SNF program reform will be resolved remains to be seen. Among other factors, how will the 2016 elections and the impending retirement of Senator Harry Reid affect the dynamics?

• We are encouraged by discussions among republican House members on the issue of CIS, but differences of opinion continue between those who would link the start of CIS to a NRC decision on the YM LA and those who would not.

• Notable positive developments this past year include progress on proposals in West TX and Southeast NM to license, construct and operate CIS facilities and bills in the House & Senate with provisions to allow DOE to store SNF at private facilities.

• We are encouraged by the bi-partisan support for a pilot CIS facility with priority for SNF stored at shutdown sites.

SNF & HLW Packaged/Licensed Ready for DOE Transport