Nuclear Power Plant To Be Dismantled By Salt Lake City Firm

August 25th, 2010 - 7:59 pm ICT by GD  

By Ranjan Bhaduri
zion_energysolutions-l2Utah, Aug 25, (THAINDIAN NEWS) EnergySolutions which is a nuclear services company based in Salt Lake City has signed an agreement with Exelon to dismantle the well known Zion Nuclear Power Station. This nuclear plant was shut down permanently way back in1998. The project which is valued at $1 billion is possibly the largest dismantling project to take off in the USA. The project will require 10 years for completion. The licences for the closed Nuclear power plant will be transferred to Energy Solutions, the decommissioning contractor from its owner Exelon. This transfer which is kind of unprecedented has got the consent of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This essentially means that Energy Solutions is going to become its owner while it performs the dismantling work over the years.

Energy Solutions will dispose the radioactive waste after processing them from the plant. The date for the transfer of license has been set at September 1. After the dismantling is over, the site will be shifted to Exelon once again as it has been reported. The pressurised water reactors in Zion were closed down in 1998 because the then owner of the plant, Commonwealth Edison did not consider the plant to be profitable. The plant remained operational only for 20 years.

As per the latest reports, the Zion Nuclear Plant has radioactive materials over1,000 tons. After the dismantling is done, the 200 acre area can be used for other commercial purposes. It is expected that at least 200 workers would be required every year for the dismantling of the nuclear power plant. The used fuel of the plant will remain at the site itself.

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