PP&L, Inc. Begins Implementing Plan for Dry Storage of Used Nuclear Fuel

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Monday February 1, 6:36 pm Eastern Time

Company Press Release

SOURCE: PP&L, Inc.

PP&L, Inc. Begins Implementing Plan for Dry Storage of Used 
Nuclear Fuel  

ALLENTOWN, Pa., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- PP&L, Inc. began 
today to put in place the first component of a dry-storage system 
for storing its used fuel at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant 
near Berwick.  

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981015/PHTH025)

``Arrival of the horizontal storage modules by rail today brings the 
spent fuel storage project, which began in 1994, a step closer to 
completion,'' said Herb Woodeshick, PP&L, Inc.'s special assistant 
to the president for Susquehanna. ``We expect to begin to move 
fuel from the spent fuel storage pools in the plant's reactor building 
into the new storage facility this summer.''  

Woodeshick emphasized that PP&L, Inc. has been educating plant 
neighbors and community leaders about the plans for dry storage 
since 1994 and will continue to keep the public informed as the 
process advances.  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved and licensed 
the design of the dry-cask storage system being used by 
companies in nine other states besides Pennsylvania. PP&L, Inc. 
will use this storage system to hold used fuel at Susquehanna until 
the federal government opens a central storage facility.  

PP&L, Inc. selected the dry-storage technology to provide 
additional, temporary storage for the used -- or spent -- nuclear fuel 
from the plant. Since the beginning of plant operation, all of the 
used fuel has been stored in specially designed water-filled tanks 
next to each reactor. Available space in those pools will be used 
up by next year.  

``Before plant operation began, PP&L, Inc. signed a contract with 
the U.S. Department of Energy for that agency to begin accepting 
Susquehanna's used fuel in 1998 for disposal -- as did other 
nuclear facilities around the country,'' Woodeshick said. ``However, 
DOE is unable to meet its contractual obligation to take the used 
fuel because it does not have a disposal facility ready.''  

DOE projects that it will not be able to take the used fuel from this 
country's nuclear plants until 2010 at the earliest, Woodeshick 
added. The site selected for the facility -- Yucca Mountain in 
Nevada -- is still undergoing testing.  

Only used fuel from the Susquehanna plant will be placed in the 
new dry- storage facility, Woodeshick said.

The dry-storage facility, which will be located inside the plant's 
security fence, will use natural air circulation to remove heat
produced by the used fuel. The fuel will be isolated inside airtight, 
sealed stainless- steel containers, which are placed in sturdy
concrete modules made of 3-foot- thick reinforced concrete. 
Woodeshick said there will be no increase in radiation at the site
boundary of the Susquehanna plant because of the dry-storage 
facility.

The first four concrete storage modules arrived Monday by rail. The 
rest will be arriving later this winter. After they are
received at the plant, the modules will be assembled and placed on 
the concrete pad. The stainless-steel casks are expected to
arrive this spring. Following their arrival, the team that will move the 
fuel from the reactor building will receive final training in the
procedures for the move.

``Dry-cask storage is a safe and proven technology that has been 
in use for several years at other nuclear plants,'' Woodeshick said, 
noting that the experience at other facilities was incorporated into 
the design at Susquehanna. Dry cask also has been employed 
successfully in Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, 
Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Arkansas.  

The Susquehanna plant, located in Luzerne County about five miles 
north of Berwick, is owned jointly by PP&L and Allegheny  
Electric Cooperative Inc.

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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