THE PRIVATE FUEL STORAGE FACILITY: POISED TO BECOME AN AWAY-FROM-REACTOR ALTERNATIVE FOR INTERIM SPENT FUEL STORAGE

Given the anticipated delays in the licensing and operation of a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel (“SNF”) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, nuclear utilities are faced with a growing need for the capability to store SNF offsite. An interim away-fromreactor SNF storage facility proposed by a consortium of utilities is in the final stages of licensing before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”). Known as the Private Fuel Storage Facility (“PFSF”), the facility is to be located on the Reservation of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians in Skull Valley, Utah. At full capacity, it will be capable of storing 40,000 metric tons of SNF. The licensing process for the PFSF has been long and arduous. The initial NRC license application was filed in June 1997 and the application has been fought at every step by the State of Utah, and other intervenors in the NRC licensing proceeding. The intervenors filed more than 120 contentions challenging the licensing of the facility. Resolution of these contentions required extensive discovery (e.g., over 70 depositions), numerous motions to dispose of contentions without hearings, and more than 60 days of evidentiary hearings (in 2000, 2002, and 2004). The last outstanding contention has now been favorably resolved by the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board and the facility is on the verge of obtaining its license. The PFSF will provide an attractive alternative to the current options available for interim storage of SNF, either in spent fuel pools or dry storage at the individual reactor sites. Additionally, by providing away-from-reactor storage, the PFSF will enable utilities with shutdown reactors to fully decommission their reactor sites. Based on a license being issued in the near term, and assuming other regulatory approvals are granted, construction of the PFSF could begin in early 2006 with operations commencing approximately 18 months later.