DECONTAMINATION AND DECOMMISSIONING OF BIG ROCK POINT NUCLEAR PLANT

摘要

Consumers Energy Company began operation of the Big Rock Point Plant in September 1962. It was the first commercial nuclear power plant constructed in Michigan and the fifth in the United States. The General Electric Boiling Water Reactor was rated for 240 Megawatts Thermal and was built by the Bechtel Corporation. The plant is located 4 miles northeast of Charlevoix, Michigan. The service water source and ultimate heat sink is Lake Michigan. In June 1997, Consumers Energy Company notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(a)(1)(I)), that Big Rock Point Plant would permanently cease operation in August 1997. The reactor was permanently shut down as stated, ending 35 years of electric power generation as the nation’s oldest and longest running nuclear power plant. It was closed because its relatively small size (67 MW Electric) was likely to make it too expensive to operate in an increasingly competitive environment. Consumers Energy awarded GTS Duratek a contract in September 1998 for waste processing services related to the decommissioning of the Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Station. GTS Duratek with oversight and management of Consumers Energy is providing on-site packaging, transportation, processing and disposal of the radioactive and/or hazardous waste associated with the decommissioning of the power plant. The two companies have developed an integrated onsite and off-site approach.