POWER November 2010 - 26

PLANT LIFE EXTENSION
Collaborative Team Investigates
Long-Term Nuclear Operations
Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Atomic Energy Act originally established the length of a U.S. commercial nuclear
reactor license as 40 years and made it renewable for another 20 years. The
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has stated that it bases the length of these
licenses (and the 50+ renewed licenses granted to date) not on any particular technical
limitation but on whether the plant meets current safety requirements. Does
this mean there could be reactor life after 60?
By John Gaertner, Electric Power Research Institute
I
n the late 1990s, Constellation Energy
served as the tip of the spear in the
nuclear industry's efforts to pursue the
relicensing of plants to extend their operation
from 40 years to 60 years. Its Calvert
Cliffs plant received the first license renewal
from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) in March 2000 (Figure
1). Constellation may soon be in the
vanguard again, as nuclear plant owners
are now evaluating what it might take to
extend the life of existing units beyond 60
years, possibly to 80 or 100 years.
Constellation and many of its utility
brethren are engaged in research through
the Electric Power Research Institute's
(EPRI's) Long-Term Operations Project to
support decision-making on whether or not
life extension for a given nuclear plant is
26
technically sound and whether the benefits
and costs of modernization and advanced
technology could justify investment for
long-term operation. Such informed decision-making
is critical because nuclear
plant owners could spend up to $1 billion
or more per plant on capital investments to
enable long-term operations.
For example, the $400 million that
Omaha Public Power District invested in
its Fort Calhoun plant in the early 2000s
to replace and refurbish most major components
and systems will enable that plant
to operate safely and reliably through its
60th birthday in 2033. Notably, however,
the investments were also intended as a
strategic down payment on even longerterm
operations, possibly to 80 years and
beyond. As nuclear plants age, more and
www.powermag.com
more plant owners are beginning to weigh
the risks and rewards of such decisions.
License renewal beyond 60 years will
require technical work to prepare for the
regulatory scrutiny associated with longterm
operations. Although the NRC has
developed criteria for extending licenses to
60 years, new and perhaps more stringent
criteria will be required when considering
operation past 60 years. By identifying and
addressing the range of technical issues
involved in long-term operations, nuclear
plant owners and their regulators can engage
in more timely and fruitful discussions
of potential barriers to extended operation.
Research and development (R&D) activities
can identify potential issues of regulatory
concern, collect data to characterize
potential problems posed by the issue, and
POWER| November 2010
http://www.powermag.com
POWER November 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER November 2010
