Locals seek safety review of planned nuclear waste site at Fermi complex

The Fermi nuclear generating complex in Monroe County (Nuclear Regulatory Commission photo)

Plans to create a long-term high-level nuclear waste storage site along Lake Erie at DTE Energy’s Fermi power-generating complex in Monroe County have triggered safety concerns by area residents who warn that the spent fuel could be vulnerable to accident or attack. So far federal regulators have dismissed their calls for enhanced oversight.

DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 plant is an 1122-megawatt boiling water reactor that has been in service since January 1988. The reactor is powered by uranium fuel rods, a portion of which must be replaced every 18 months. For decades the spent, but otherwise still highly radioactive, fuel rods have been housed in a temporary storage pool at the plant.

This year, DTE plans to begin the process of transferring the material into steel-lined concrete casks for long term storage on the property.

Company spokesman John Austerberry said that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows on-site storage of high level waste for 30 years after conclusion of operations at a plant. Fermi 2’s license expires in 2025. Austerberry said that dry cask storage is widely used by nuclear power plants and that there has never been an accidental release from the casks.

The Maryland-based nuclear watchdog group Beyond Nuclear learned of the plan to begin cask storage through an April notice in the Federal Register, said attorney Terry Lodge who represents the group, which has members near the Fermi plant.

Lodge said that his clients are concerned that nuclear waste will be less secure when it is transferred into casks and stored away from the reactor.

“Reactors themselves are usually within a containment-type facility that is thick and reinforced and might withstand a small plane collision,” Lodge said. “We think the casks themselves are sitting ducks. If one of them was targeted, radiation would become wind borne. It would be difficult and hazardous to contain.”

Government-sponsored tests have shown that anti-tank weapons and airplane crashes could damage the casks, he said.

In a May 7 petition to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, Lodge argued that regulators should hold a hearing on his clients’ concerns about DTE‘s storage plans.

People who live near the site are concerned that the plans do not provide adequate safety and security for themselves and the environment, he argued. The ASLB is the only body with the authority to review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved plan.

The group said that there should be full review of the safety, security, and environmental impacts of the Fermi 2 dry cask storage installation.

They also demanded that “an independent quality assurance inspection on the design and manufacture of Holtec International high-level radioactive waste storage/transport containers be required before their deployment at Fermi.”

The group notes that a retired NRC staff member involved with cask inspections has warned of possible structural problems with the containers.

So far the ASLB has rejected the group’s efforts at involvement, even though some members live within a few miles of the plant.

In an Aug. 21 ruling, the commission stated that petitioners “cannot obtain a hearing by simply suggesting that the order should be strengthened in some way.”

The commission also downplayed the group’s concerns about potential radioactive release from the casks, saying that a cask “is essentially a passive structure rather than an operating facility, and there therefore is less chance of widespread radioactive release.”

“In general,” the commission stated, “petitioners will rarely be able demonstrate standing in a case such as this, where the Commission issues an order intended to improve safety conditions.”

“It doesn’t take a lawyer to understand the simple fact that there are certain risks to the public of operating a nuclear plant or, for that matter, a coal-burning plant, or an oil refinery or any number of other enterprises. Life is full of risks.” The Monroe Evening News editorialized Sept. 6: “The larger question seems to be whether those most exposed to those obvious risks should have a right to suggest ways of reducing those risks.”