Closed nuclear plant’s plan to ship radioactive water raises concerns

Montpelier, Vt. — The closed Vermont Yankee nuclear plant will be mothballed for decades before it is dismantled and its radioactive components are shipped off. But already, plans by the plant to ship hundreds of thousands of gallons of radioactive water to a Tennessee processing facility are raising concerns.

It’s a situation being played around the country as aging nuclear plants begin to close. Nearly all are expected to stand dormant for up to 60 years while their radioactivity diminishes and their decommissioning funds grow. But early in their retirements, huge amounts of contaminated water will need to be shipped off for processing.

It’s a reminder that even as the benefits of nuclear power fade in memory in regions where plants are closing, the retired reactors will remain an environmental and public safety challenge for decades to come.

In order to prepare the reactor for the period of dormancy — called “safe-store” in industry parlance — that could last until the 2070s, all of Vermont Yankee’s pipes and other parts that hold water need to be drained. First stop for the radioactive water is a large, doughnut-shaped container at the base of the reactor called the torus.

The torus, with a capacity of 1.1 million gallons, was used to store water in the event the plant needed emergency cooling during its nearly 43 years of operation, from 1972 to the end of 2014. Now it’s a giant holding tank for water waiting to be sent away for processing and disposal.

With more highly contaminated water from other parts of the plant added to the torus since the shutdown, the radioactivity of the torus water has grown substantially at Vermont Yankee, said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s regional office for the Northeast.