Decommissioning of the Yankee reactor internals

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:437499

Child, C L ^[1]

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1. Yankee Atomic Electric Company, Bolton, MA (United States)

The Yankee Nuclear Power Station (YNPS) first achieved criticality on August 19, 1960. Located in Rowe, Massachusetts, Yankee was the third commercial power plant licensed in the United States. The Nuclear Steam Supply System is a four loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) designed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Since it began commercial operation, Yankee continually ranked among the best commercial nuclear plants in the world and has been praised for its pioneering efforts, highly trained and skilled staff, innovative approaches to technical issues, and operational safety culture. During its lifetime, this 185 Mwe plant had a capacity factor of 74 percent - over ten points higher than the United States nuclear industry average at that time. On February 26, 1992, faced with escalating costs and a general decline in power demands in the Northeast, the Yankee Atomic Electric Company announced the permanent shut down of Yankee Rowe. Even after shutdown, the Yankee tradition of pioneering and innovation has continued. Prompted by South Carolina`s decision to extend access to the Barnwell, South Carolina, waste management facility through June 1994 to out-of-compact states, Yankee initiated an innovative program to remove reactor internals, steam generators, and the pressurizer. Yankee realized that removal of these components could be completed safely using existing programs and procedures. The project would save the ratepayers several millions of dollars compared to deferring removal until after the year 2000. Yankee management approved execution of the Component Removal Program in March, 1993.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Williams (Paul) and Associates, Medina, OH (United States)
• OSTI ID: 437499
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TR--106929; CONF-960783--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING
REMOVAL
ROWE YANKEE REACTOR