Perry nuke to get above-ground dry waste storage

POWER NEWS

FirstEnergy Corp. says it will install above-ground, dry-cask storage of spent nuclear fuel at its 1,238-MW Perry, Ohio, nuclear power plant.

The Akron, Ohio, utility says it initially plans to install six storage canisters, with up to 74 more as needed, at the 1,200-MW General Electric boiling water reactor. Construction should begin in Spring 2008 with completion in 2010.

Nuclear utilities are increasingly turning to above-ground, dry storage as their spent fuel pools fill and the prospect for a federal waste repository at Yucca Mountain recedes. One executive for a utility with multiple nuclear plants told POWERnews, “Our forward planning on existing and new plants assumes that we will have to store our wastes on site for the foreseeable future.”

Barry Allen, president of the Perry plant, said, “This project is vital to the future operation of the Perry plant. With the safety and health of the public and environment the top priorities, much effort went into the planning and selection of this canister system.”