Agenda - 11-17-1998 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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42 North Carolina to be stored at the Barnwell site. That waste is generally generated by the medical community. The high level nucleaz waste in question at Shearon Harris consists of the spent fuel rods from a nucleaz reactor itself. Waste or spent fuel rods are the result of the process of nucleaz or radioactive decay during use. Through the decay process, the fuel rods lose a great deal of their initial capacity to produce a sustained high level (but controlled) nucleaz fission reaction (which produces the enormous quantities of heat that aze used to make steam that turns or powers steam turbines which produce electricity). Though still quite hazardous, in terms of radioactive emissions, the spent fuel rods are typically stored on site in a "temporary" storage pool. These pools aze large in-ground concrete containment structures which were originally designed to temporarily hold the spent fuel rods (that aze held in concrete and metal casks) submerged under water. The water serves to reduce or absorb the heat generated by the rods and prevent the escape of radioactivity. In the original strategy for dealing with the spent storage rods, the federal government was to provide along-term high level radioactive waste storage site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The on-site temporary storage pools were intended to hold the spent fuel rods until arrangements could be made to ship them to Yucca Mountain. The federal government has not constructed the Yucca Mountain storage site and it does not appear that it will be able to provide high- level radioactive waste storage at any time in the near future. Nuclear power plants have been forced to provide long term storage for their spent fuel rods in their temporary storage pools. There are numerous elements of concern, not necessarily specific to the Sheazon Harris site, related to long .term storage of spent fuel rods at temporary storage sites. Those concerns relate to: 1) loss of water from the storage pool which could lead to superheating of remaining water and an atmospheric release of radioactivity; 2) loss of water allowing the formation of a critical or neaz-critical mass and melt-down of the still highly radioactive fuel rods that have been stored in a facility containing more nuclear material arranged in a more densely packed configuration than was originally anticipated in the design for the temporary storage facilities; 3) increased likelihood of radioactivity releases due to human error caused by greatly increased levels of nuclear materials handling. activity and tighter quarters in storage areas; 4) increased likelihood of radioactivity release due to the increased levels of handling and shipping of nucleaz materials between nucleaz power facilities, etc. These concerns are exacerbated by the public perception that there is no such thing as a minor nuclear accident. There aze also serious and widespread public concerns about the efficacy of the Nucleaz Regulatory Commission's (NRC) use of its rules and its enforcement activities as it is both the primary nuclear regulatory agency and one of chief proponents of the use of nucleaz power. The adequacy of NRC rules and standazds related to storage pools has also been called into question, because the pools were, after all, intended and designed to provide only temporary storage. CP&L has been storing spent fuel rods on-site in its temporary storage pool at Shearon Harris since the facility's first refueling operation. According to CP&L, the Sheazon Harris plant it is the newest nuclear facility and contains the most modern and up-to-date technology. Accordingly, CP&L has designated (and apparently used) the Shearon Harris plant as its storage site for spent fuel rods from its Brunswick, NC, and Robinson, SC, nucleaz plants as well. The original design for Sheazon Harris called for four reactors. This was later scaled back to one reactor, but at least some of the construction was completed for four temporary fuel storage pools. Two were completed and put into operation while two others were left incomplete. CP&L contents that the safest and most economically feasible strategy for storage