Shoreham decommissioning and license termination -- A success story

Conference · Sun Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:277798

Kumar, M S ^[1]

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1. TTX Associates, Inc., New York, NY (United States)

Shoreham was the first large, NRC-licensed, commercial nuclear power plant to achieve the final goal of license termination. The pioneering nature of the project made the Shoreham experience unique and challenging in many ways. The lack of previous experience with the new decommissioning rule, gaps and ambiguities in the regulations and the absence of well-established procedures and guidelines inevitably led to regulatory uncertainties and delays. In spite of the delays imposed by the licensing process, the decommissioning of the Shoreham plant proceeded with remarkable speed and efficiency. Innovative approaches were employed to tackle difficult regulatory and technical issues. Shoreham decommissioning was completed ahead of schedule and within budget. The insight gained from the Shoreham experience is paving the way for better decommissioning regulations and guidelines from the NRC, particularly as they apply to prematurely shut down plants. The NRC is attempting to examine the problems, determine the causes and come up with solutions in the form of changes to decommissioning regulations. The regulatory changes, clarifications and guidance resulting from this effort are sure to help future decommissioning projects by establishing a more predictable regulatory regime. As the Shoreham decommissioning project came to a successful conclusion, it became evident that the benefits flowing from the project were not confined to the licensing and regulatory arena. It contributed significantly to the knowledge base in such areas as decontamination and dismantling methods, control of personnel radiation exposure, termination survey techniques, spent fuel transportation and public relations. Shoreham also convincingly demonstrated that the cost and schedule of a large, complex decommissioning project are predictable.

• OSTI ID: 277798
• Report Number(s): CONF-960306--; ISBN 0-7918-1226-X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING
REACTOR LICENSING
RECOMMENDATIONS
REGULATIONS
SHOREHAM REACTOR
SPENT FUELS
US NRC