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Scott Northard
Private Fuel Storage
Continued...
Verdoia: Let me ask you, what are the consequences if
a storage is not affected in a reasonable period of time for a
facility such as Prairie Island?
Northard: Well in some cases power plants would have to
shutdown because they would not have the space available to continue
to store spent fuel on site. Plants like Prairie Island have to
refuel their reactors approximately every 18 to 20 months. About
one-third of the reactor fuel inside the reactor core is removed
and replaced with fresh fuel so the plant can continue to operate
for another 18 to 20 months. That spent fuel needs to be stored
somewhere. And it needs to be in a secure, safe place for storage.
We are storing fuel safely onsite now and we intend to continue
storing fuel safely onsite in the future but there's a limited
amount of space available to do that, so we need additional storage
space available. It seems to make the most sense, from a national
and economic standpoint, to build one centralized a storage facility,
or perhaps two centralized storage facilities. Consolidate the
material in that location, have one security force, have one set
of employees watching it, and have one set of equipment needed
to handle the storage casks. It makes sense to consolidate it
into standard packages that are ready for shipment to Yucca Mountain,
where the repository is expected to be built.
Verdoia: Why Utah? How did Utah come into the mix? Why
did you come to that location? What brought these two entities
together?
Northard: Well actually, the Skull Valley Band of Goshute
tribe began studying this project in its earlier form as a federal
facility proposal in 1990. After some amendments were passed by
Congress to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1987, the federal
government was supposed to look for a voluntary host community
to build an interim storage facility, because even at that time
they realized they would not be able to meet the 1998 date. The
federal government sent out a solicitation letter. It went to
municipalities, states and other governments, including Indian
tribes, throughout the United States and said if you are interested
in being a host community for this type of a facility, or at least
studying that idea, please respond. There were 26 candidates that
responded. One of those was the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indian
tribe.
So they began working with the federal government, mainly the
Department of Energy, in understanding what it meant to host this
type of a facility. The tribe did receive two grants in which
to do studies and they used those grants to actually study what
it would be like to live next to a facility like this. They traveled
to France to visit reprocessing and spent fuel processing plants.
They went to Sweden to visit the National Interim Storage Facility.
They went to England to see the reprocessing facilities and spent
fuel processing plants there. They went to Japan to see how the
Japanese deal with their spent nuclear fuel. When they came back
they put together a video documentary and two written reports
and presented those to their people. They determined, as the result
of their study, that in fact this was a project they would be
interested in doing for economic development on their reservation.
The interesting thing about the tribes' visits to these foreign
countries is that they not only talked to the operators of those
facilities, they talked to the people that live next to the facilities.
I was particularly struck by an interview with the mayor of the
town next to the facility in Sweden, the Central Interim Storage
Facility in Sweden. He talked about how this plant was a good
neighbor. How many of the people in the town worked at the facility
and that they had received great benefits and they were not concerned
at all about living next to this facility. What really struck
me was that the tribe not only talked to those who operated the
facility but those who live next to the facility. They also talked
to people who were opposed to nuclear power and nuclear materials
in general.
But after all of this, after doing all these studies, they agreed
to continue to be considered as a voluntary host community for
a federal interim storage facility. In 1993, Congress withheld
further appropriations for that program and the tribe felt they
were let down by the federal government and they wanted to continue
pursuing this project so they began talking with nuclear power
companies, nuclear utilities, like my own, about considering carrying
this project forward only as a private sector development, not
as a federal project. That's how we got involved. In fact, the
tribe had been working on this for about five years before we
even met the tribal members and met the tribal leaders.
Verdoia: I want to make sure I understand this correctly.
You're saying the Skull Valley Goshutes solicited Northern States
Power?
Northard: That's correct.
Verdoia: So they came to you?
Northard: Yes.
Verdoia: Simple question again, who's going to pay for
this?
Northard: Well, the Private Fuel Storage Company and it's
eight utilities are currently funding all of the work to license
and develop this facility. Once the license is granted for the
facility and we can begin construction, the construction will
be financed in part by those utilities and in part by the perspective
customers of the facility, the nuclear facilities themselves as
well.
Verdoia: Is there a rightful claim from that Waste Management
Fund that they've been paying into for years?
Northard: Well, the Private Fuel Storage Company is totally
a private sector development. We have made no request directly
from Private Fuel Storage to the federal government to pay for
this facility, even though we're doing something the federal government
should have been doing. It's up to the individual utilities if
they want to seek reimbursement for their costs from the federal
government at some point. Private Fuel Storage does not seek to
have any involvement at all with funding directly from the federal
government for this project.
Verdoia: The cynic might listen to that and say Private
Fuel Storage is sounding as it's own separate entity and yet in
fact, wears just a different sleeve of the same sweater of these
other utilities. Private Fuel Storage is viewed by many as a shell
corporation, it's a sham, the utilities are just trying to put
themselves legally distant from certain obligations.
Northard: Well actually, Private Fuel Storage is an LLC
(Limited Liability Corporation). It is a very commonly accepted
corporate form, in fact, it's the most popular form of corporation
that is being used today. In fact, Utah was one of the first states
to approve the LLC form of company when it was first introduced
some number of years ago. So it is really not an attempt to get
out of any specific liabilities or obligations, and in fact, in
this case the spent fuel that is stored at this facility will
still be owned by the utilities, not by Private Fuel Storage.
So the obligation and responsibility for that spent fuel will
remain with these utilities as long as they still own this material
and until it's turned over to the federal government.
Verdoia: And that's one thing that Utah officials have
raised warning flags over. The concern with limited liability
and who's going to be responsible if something goes wrong. Either
in the transportation or in the maintenance on site. Who is going
to be responsible?
Northard: Well actually, it's fairly well laid out and
in great detail by the federal regulations. You cannot receive
a license for a facility of this type unless you demonstrate that
you have the financial qualifications to not only safely operate
the facility, but also safely shutdown and decommission the facility.
The money for decommissioning has to be provided up front before
the fuel is placed at the facility.
With respect to transportation, there is private insurance available
that Private Fuel Storage will be gaining, but there is also something
called the Price Anderson Act, which is a Federal Act that was
passed in the late 1950s that provides for virtually unlimited
protection for the public should there ever be anything happen
during a transportation incident. So everything has been well
addressed ahead of time in terms of liabilities and obligations.
The public really doesn't have to be concerned about that. If
we cannot adequately address the liabilities and the financial
assurances necessary for a facility like this we will not get
a license. It's that simple.
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