One utility`s approach to radwaste
Recently, the Northern States Power Company (NSP) has taken a {open_quotes}very active{close_quotes} role in the High-Level Waste (HLW) issue. This decision was not an easy one for NSP which has traditionally been satisfied with remaining silent politically and active technically. However, all of the excellent technical efforts could go for naught based on a single political decision. In as much as the HLW and Low-Level Waste (LLW) issues are being decided in the political arena, I believe the industry can learn from our experience with the HLW issue. Therefore, I will explain the scenario of events and NSP`s reactions surrounding dry cask storage at NSP`s Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, and how these reactions have helped us deal with the LLW issue. During the Plant Life EXtension (PLEX) project at the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, four critical issues were identified as requiring resolution prior to NSP committing additional resources toward the PLEX project. The HLW and LLW issues were among the list. Although the importance of the two issues had been realized prior to 1990, NSP did not make any appreciable changes to address either of these issues until an amendment was made in the 1992 Minnesota legislative session which would have removed the decision to approve the Prairie Island dry cask storage project from the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and shifted it to the state legislature. Several plant employees met at the state capitol throughout the week to lobby against the amendment. Ultimately, the amendment was debated on the Senate floor and failed.
- Research Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst. (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA (United States); Williams (Paul) and Associates, Medina, OH (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 229813
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-TR-105569; CONF-950718-; TRN: 96:002003-0003
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Electric Power Research Institute low-level waste conference, Orlando, FL (United States), 10-12 Jul 1995; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of 1995 EPRI international low-level waste conference. Proceedings; PB: 600 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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