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Fusion Science and Technology
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Getting back to yes: A local perspective on decommissioning, restart, and responsibility
For 45 years, Duane Arnold Energy Center operated in Linn County, Ia., near the town of Palo and just northwest of Cedar Rapids. The facility, owned by NextEra Energy, was the only nuclear power plant in the state.
In August 2020, a historic derecho swept across eastern Iowa with winds approaching 140 miles per hour. Damage to the plant’s cooling towers accelerated a shutdown that had already been planned, and the facility entered decommissioning soon after, with its fuel removed in October of that year. Iowa’s only nuclear plant had gone off line.
Today the national energy landscape looks very different than it did just six short years ago. Electricity demand is rising rapidly as data centers, artificial intelligence infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and electrification expand across the country. Reliable, carbon-free baseload power has become increasingly valuable. In that context, Linn County has approved the rezoning necessary to support the recommissioning and restart of Duane Arnold and is actively supporting NextEra’s efforts to secure the remaining state and federal approvals.
S. Sandri, G. M. Contessa, M. Guardati, M. Guarracino, R. Villari
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 5 | July 2019 | Pages 345-351
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1608097
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental nuclear fusion device could be seen as a step toward the development of the future nuclear fusion power plant. If compared with other possible solutions to the energy problem, nuclear fusion has advantages that ensure sustainability and security. In particular, considering the radioactivity and the radioactive waste produced in a nuclear fusion plant, the component materials for the plant could be selected in order to limit the decay period, making recycling possible in a new reactor after about 100 yr from the beginning of decommissioning. To achieve this and other pertinent goals, many experimental machines have been developed and operated worldwide in the last decades, underlining that radiation protection and worker exposure are critical aspects of these facilities due to the high-flux, high-energy neutrons produced in the fusion reactions. Direct radiation, material activation, tritium diffusion, and other related issues pose a real challenge to demonstrating that these devices are safer than nuclear fission facilities. In Italy, for the past 30 yr, a limited number of fusion facilities have been constructed and operated, mainly at the ENEA Frascati Center, where a new one, the Italian Divertor Tokamak Test Facility (DTT), is now under development. The radiation protection approach, addressed by national licensing requirements, shows that respecting the constraints for worker exposure to ionizing radiation is not always straightforward. In the current analysis the main radiation protection issues encountered in the Italian fusion facilities are considered and discussed, and the technical and legal requirements are described. The licensing process for this kind of device is outlined and compared with that of other European countries.
The following aspects are considered throughout the current study: description of the installation, plant, and systems; suitability of the area; buildings and structures; radioprotection structures and organization; exposure of personnel; accident analysis and relevant radiological consequences; and radioactive waste assessment and management.
In conclusion, the analysis points out the need for special attention to the radiological exposure of workers in order to demonstrate at least the same level of safety as that reached at nuclear fission facilities.
