OPPD considers a new decommissioning strategy for Fort Calhoun

17 September 2018


Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) is considering a "timely, more economical approach" to decommissioning its Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska.

The 482MWe single-unit pressurised water reactor, which began commercial operation in 1973, was retired in 2016 for economic reasons.

OPPD had been planning to decommission Fort Calhoun using the SAFSTOR method, which allows residual radioactivity to naturally decay over 60 years. However, it revealed that the DECON strategy, which would see decontamination work take place over the next ten years with disposal of components at a low-level waste repository, could save $200m due to reduced buildings and maintenance upkeep costs.

Other benefits of the DECON approach were highlighted during a presentation to the board. They include reducing financial liability sooner, shortening the time of regulatory risk, reducing work redundancies, improving efficiency, ensuring the availability of a waste-disposal option, providing an opportunity to repurpose the plant site, and providing greater cost certainty.

The board will receive more details on the shift to the DECON strategy during their October board meeting, after which they will decide as to which decommissioning method to pursue.

“We chose SAFSTOR in the first place due to the flexibility it provided to move up the time frame or switch to DECON, if it made sense,” said Tim Burke, OPPD president and CEO. “Our workers’ performance makes the potential move to DECON possible.”

OPPD said the costs for decommissioning Fort Calhoun would come from its decommissioning fund, which totals $449m.


Photo: Fort Calhoun in Nebraska closed in 2016



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