Energy News Network (https://energynews.us/tag/nuclear/)
Environmental advocates have jumped another hurdle in their quest to make sure FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries provide enough funding for safe closure of their nuclear power plants.
Federal regulators are watching the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants in Ohio more closely after problems with backup systems surfaced at both sites within the last year.
Nuclear Energy Information Service director Dave Kraft spoke with the Energy News Network before next week’s Congressional briefing.
Ohio’s Davis-Besse nuclear plant is scheduled to close within three years, but decommissioning could take up to 60 years, and after that a regulated radioactive fuel storage facility will remain on the site indefinitely. FirstEnergy’s generation subsidiaries announced plans to shut down Davis-Besse and two other nuclear plants three days before filing for bankruptcy in March. Dealing with radioactive fuel and waste, decontamination and demolition will take decades. Inspectors and analysts for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlined the process at a public meeting last month in nearby Port Clinton, Ohio. Officials with FirstEnergy Solutions and the Environmental Law & Policy Center also attended.
Environmental groups want the bankruptcy court to keep FirstEnergy on the hook for decommissioning and cleanup.