Minutes - 19990407 - Laserfiche WebLink

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David Ray, Town of Summerfield Chair Gordon then asked those from the Commission for the Environment and the Environmental Affairs Board to stand and introduce themselves. Richard Pratt, Commission for the Environment Dan Okun, Commission for the Environment Loraine Kohorn, Commission for the Environment Dr. Earl Fowler, special guest Chair Gordon then introduced staff members Paul Thames, County Engineer, Mary McDowell from Chatham County, and David Stancil, from the Environment and Resource Conservation Department. Chair Gordon introduced and gave background information on both of the consultants that will make the presentation. Dr. Gordon Thompson and David Lochbaum. David Lochbaum provided a brief overview of the material he intended to cover. The issue is the storage of spent fuel. He showed a picture of what a spent fuel rod looked like. He explained how the rods must be stored under water since they are highly radioactive. He said the plant design contains provisions to ensure that no one will have to touch the rods. He explained that the reactor core at the Shearon Harris plant contains 157 of the fuel assemblies when the plant is operating. The plant runs for 18-24 months, and then shuts down for refueling, at which time roughly 40-50 of the fuel assemblies are removed and replaced with new ones. The plant is then restarted for another operating cycle. The spent fuel assemblies are placed into the spent fuel pool. He explained why cooling is important. He explained the spent fuel cooling systems and how they work, saying that it would take brief interruptions and still operate okay. The Harris plant has four spent fuel pools. He said that Shearon Harris has a better prepared cooling system for spent fuel than the average plant in the country. They originally planned for four nuclear power reactors. They now only have two activated. He showed on a chart what the proposed change would do at Shearon Harris. In the first pool, there are 363 bundles of fuel that came from the Brunswick plant in North Carolina, and 360 bundles from the Harris and/or Robinson plant in South Carolina, for a total of 723. In the larger pool, there are 2,178 bundles from the Brunswick plant, and 768 bundles from Robinson and Harris, for a total of 3,669. That is how much space is available, all of those spaces are currently not filled. They are proposing to activate the other two pools. Storage racks that contain 2,763 bundles from the Brunswick plant, and 927 bundles from the Robinson plant will be placed in the third pool. Racks for 1,025 bundles from the Robinson plant will be placed in the fourth pool. The total for the third and fourth pool would then be 4,715 additional irradiated fuel bundles at the Harris plant. Right now, the maximum total it can store is 3,669. The spent fuel storage capacity will more than double if the proposal goes through. He then discussed the amendment process that they are in right now. He explained that the process to change the plant is not a new one. Any plant owner can change their plant through this process if they satisfy three conditions. First, the new activity does not increase the chances of an accident at the plant. Second, if there is an accident at the plant, the proposed activity does not increase the chances that plant workers or people in the plant will be harmed. Lastly, the proposed activity does not create a new type of accident at the plant. He explained that an alternative for the Shearon Harris plant would be to store the spent fuel in a dry cask at their Brunswick and Robinson plants operated by CP&L. He then turned the meeting over to Dr. Gordon Thompson to present some of his findings. Mr. Lochbaum will then come back and discuss some of UCS's concerns. Dr. Gordon Thompson showed a picture of the Shearon Harris plant. He showed a drawing of the Shearon Harris plant and the location of the reactors. He showed that the pools are located in a long narrow building, called the Fuel Handling Building. Dr. Thompson explained how the water is circulated through heat exchanges. He showed the racks, in a honeycomb design, that the fuel stores. He explained that the purpose for putting the fuel assemblies so close together is so they can put the greatest possible amount of spent fuel in the pools. CP&L admits that the unit one component cooling water system does not have the capacity to extract heat from all of the spent fuel that could be placed in pools C & D. He summarized the dangers of activating pools C & D. The company proposes to put in the record of administrative provision that they