NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

 Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

 Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA

No. 04-034 March 22, 2004

NRC ISSUES LICENSE FOR DIABLO CANYON

INDEPENDENT SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE INSTALLATION

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a license to the Pacific Gas and Electric

Company (PG&E) to operate an independent spent nuclear fuel storage installation at its Diablo

Canyon nuclear power plant site in San Luis Obispo County, California.

PG&E intends to transfer used nuclear reactor fuel that has already cooled significantly from

spent fuel pools at the Diablo Canyon plant into dry casks. The new spent fuel storage installation will

provide sufficient additional interim spent fuel storage capacity to support the continued operation of

the plant’s two reactors until the current operating licenses expire (September 2021 for Unit 1 and

April 2025 for Unit 2).

The installation will employ a version of the HI-STORM 100 dry-cask storage system, designed

by Holtec International, Inc., and previously approved by the NRC. The system includes a steel

canister that can hold up to 32 spent fuel assemblies, an “overpack” of concrete and steel to hold the

canister and provide additional shielding against radiation, and a transfer cask used to move the loaded

canisters from the plant’s fuel-handling building to the storage site. The Diablo Canyon installation

can accommodate up to 140 storage casks anchored to seven concrete storage pads.

The agency has also issued a Safety Evaluation Report for the proposed spent fuel storage

installation. The report summarizes the NRC staff’s analyses of potential effects on the installation

from a wide range of natural and man-made hazards, such as flooding, lightning, fire, earthquakes, and

explosions. The report describes the NRC staff’s conclusions that the storage installation proposed by

PG&E conforms with statutory and regulatory requirements and will provide adequate protection of

public health, safety and the environment. 

The license is effective for 20 years, and may be renewed.

PG&E applied for the license in December 2001. In addition to safety reviews and an

environmental assessment by the NRC staff, the agency offered an opportunity for interested persons to

request a formal adjudicatory hearing on the application. Several local individuals, agencies and

citizen groups petitioned to participate in such a hearing. The NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing

Board held several sessions in California to review the petitions, including one in March 2003 to hear
statements from members of the public. Ultimately, the Board found in favor of the applicant and in

August authorized issuance of the license. That ruling was appealed to the Commission, which upheld

it in October. (Note: There is a judicial challenge to the Commission’s ruling pending in the United

States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.)

The Diablo Canyon independent spent fuel storage installation license, technical specifications,

and Safety Evaluation Report will be available through the NRC’s ADAMS document management

system at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html , with accession number

ML040780107. For assistance in using ADAMS, contact the agency’s Public Document Room at 301-

415-4737 or 1-800-397-4209. For more information about dry-cask storage of spent nuclear fuel, see

the NRC’s Fact Sheet, at

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/dry-cask-storage.html .

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