ML18031A623

LTR-18-0028 Response_Opa -Jeffrey Boehne Social Studies Teacher Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center E-mail Re Student Letters on Nuclear Power Jack Letter

ML18031A623
Person / Time
Site:	Fermi
Issue date:	01/29/2018
From:	Scott Burnell Office of Public Affairs
To:	Jack W Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center
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ML18024B331	List: ML18031A620 ML18031A621 ML18031A622 ML18031A623
References
LTR-18-0028
Download: ML18031A623 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-001 January 29, 2018 Jack W Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center 400 North Rose Street Mt. Clemens, MI 48043 Hello Jack:

Thanks for your letter to Chairman Svinicki regarding your thoughts on nuclear power and the proposed new nuclear power plant next to the existing Fermi reactor near Monroe.

The NRC reviewed DTEs new reactor application for the Fermi site from September 2008 through February 2015. This thorough review covered both the safety and environmental aspects of building and operating the proposed reactor. The review included examination of how the Fermi I site would be completely cleaned up prior to any construction of the new reactor. In issuing the license for the Fermi new reactor, the NRC has concluded the public will remain safe if the reactor is built and operated.

To be clear, a potential accident involving a U.S. nuclear power plant would involve overheating nuclear fuel, not an explosion. The radioactive material from the 1979 partial meltdown at Three Mile Island had no measurable effect on public health. Apart from Three Mile Island, U.S. nuclear power plants have safely withstood severe events such as tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes including Andrew and Katrina with no impact to the public. In the years following the 2011 Fukushima accident, the NRC imposed additional requirements on operating U.S. reactors to enhance their ability to remain safe.

NRC research over the past decade has examined the potential consequences of a U.S. reactor accident. These detailed analyses of accident scenarios show that the post-Fukushima enhancements can stop an accident before it can affect the public.

Even if an accident cannot be stopped, the research shows the effects are much less than earlier thought. The potential radioactive material reaching the environment would only be enough to slightly increase cancer risk in the affected population.

The NRC approved the proposed design for the new Fermi reactor, the Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor, in 2014. The design includes several safety features that would operate without the need for electricity, meaning the reactor would be able to safely withstand the sort of events that occurred before the Fukushima accident. When the NRC decided to issue the Fermi new reactor license, the agency imposed

conditions on the proposed reactor to account for the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident.

Used (or spent) nuclear fuel at U.S. nuclear power plants is currently stored safely and securely in one of two ways. Operating reactors such as the existing Fermi reactor (as well as most permanently shut down reactors) store spent fuel in robust pools made of reinforced concrete several feet thick, with steel liners. The water is typically about 40 feet deep, and serves both to shield the radiation and cool the fuel. The proposed new reactor at the Fermi site would include a pool with enough capacity for decades worth of spent fuel. Some of the NRCs post-Fukushima work considered the effects of a very severe earthquake on a spent fuel pool. That research concluded the pools will continue to protect the public after severe events, and that post-Fukushima enhancements can safely stop scenarios that might damage fuel in the pools.

Once the fuel has cooled off (normally after about five years), plant owners can move this colder spent fuel into "dry cask" storage. As shown in the diagram, the casks are typically steel cylinders that are filed with inert gas (such as helium or nitrogen) and either welded or bolted closed. The steel cylinder provides a leak-tight confinement of the spent fuel. Each cylinder is surrounded by additional steel, concrete, or other material to provide radiation shielding to workers and members of the public.

Casks have safely and securely stored spent fuel for several decades, and can continue doing so for some time.

The casks are monitored and inspected to ensure they continue to meet NRC requirements. The casks are very robust - casks at a plant in Virginia safely withstood a strong earthquake in 2011. Both the existing Fermi site and the proposed new reactor site have enough land for dry cask facilities large enough to store spent fuel from the reactors entire operating life.

The long-term approach to U.S. spent fuel involves storage instead of reprocessing.

The NRC is currently examining how the agency might re-start consideration of the application to license and build a permanent, national spent fuel repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Two private companies have applied for licenses to build very large dry cask facilities in the U.S. Southwest. If those licenses were approved, they would provide consolidated spent fuel storage for the nation until a permanent facility is available.

Ive included additional information on the NRCs overall operations, the agencys response to the Fukushima accident, and spent fuel storage/transportation. Please feel free to e-mail me at Scott.Burnell@nrc.gov if you have any other questions.

Scott Burnell

/RA/

Office of Public Affairs Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2