Nine Mile Nuclear Plant begins dry runs with new spent fuel storage method

SCRIBA, N.Y. -- It's a question that is becoming more difficult to answer over time: Where can the radioactive byproduct of nuclear power, known as spent fuel, be stored?

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Affairs Officer Neil Sheehan says there isn't a simple answer to that question.

"We don't have a national depository, nothing on the horizon indicating we're gonna have one and we don't do recycling in this country," Sheehan said.

Meaning there's simply no place to put the nuclear waste. Initially, Olympic size pools were constructed at each nuclear plant to hold the spent fuel, but that was meant to be only a temporary solution while the federal government searched for a place to store it permanently. Decades later, a spot has not been found, so plants like Nine Mile have turned to storing the waste in on-site outdoor concrete storage modules.

"We are moving spent fuel from our spent pools inside the plant and we will be moving it out here to safely store it in dry cask storage facility," said Constellation Energy Nuclear Group Spokesperson Jill Lyon.

Nuclear plants throughout the country started using these types of storage facilities in the early 90s when the earliest constructed spent fuel pools began to fill up. But before the move can begin, staff are undergoing intense training and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be closely monitoring the dry runs, set to begin this week.

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Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman touring Nine Mile Point nuclear plant

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will tour the Nine Mile Point nuclear plant in Oswego County today, the NRC said.

Jaczko has been touring nuclear plants across the country since being named chairman in May 2009.

His visit comes three days before the NRC holds a public open house at Scriba Town Hall to discuss the agency's annual assessment of safety performance for the Nine Mile Point and James A. Fitzpatrick nuclear power plants. Overall, the NRC says the Nine Mile Point Units 1 and 2, which are owned by Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, and the Fitzpatrick plant, owned by Entergy Nuclear Northeast, operated safely during 2011.

"Throughout 2011, our inspectors kept close watch on a daily basis to ensure there were no safety issues of significance," said Bill Dean, NRC Region I administrator.