12 January (NucNet): The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved utility Consumers Energy’s request to release most of its decommissioned Big Rock Point nuclear power plant site in the state of Michigan for unrestricted public use.
The land, approximately 175 hectares, is below NRC regulatory requirements that allow a maximum radiation dose of 25 millirem per year from residual contamination. Release of the land for unrestricted use poses no threat to public health and safety, the NRC said.
Big Rock Point’s licences will still apply to the site’s dry cask storage facility, where the spent nuclear fuel from the plant’s 35 years of operation is stored, plus a parcel of land surrounding this facility.
The total land remaining under the licences is approximately 43 hectares. Consumers Energy remains responsible for the security and protection of this land and the dry cask storage facility, and is required to maintain US dollar 44.4 million (34 million euros) in nuclear liability insurance coverage for the facility.
Big Rock Point, a single 67-megawatt boiling water reactor, began commercial operations in March 1963 and ceased production in August 1997. Decommissioning was completed in August 2006.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Pioneer US N-Plant to Close (News No. 283, 12 June 1997)
