OYSTER CREEK NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION

'Oyster Creek' nuclear power station is a single unit thermal boiling water reactor power plant located on an 800-acre (3.2 km²) site adjacent to the Oyster Creek in the Forked River section of Lacey Township in Ocean County, New Jersey. Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Station is the oldest operating nuclear power plant in the United States. Lacey Township receives more than $12 million in tax breaks each year for having the power plant in their township.
The facility is owned and operated by AmerGen Energy LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exelon Corporation. The total generation capacity for the plant is 610 MWe.

Contents

Unit One

License extension

References

External links

Unit One

Unit One is a 610 MWe nuclear boiling water reactor. It first came online on December 1, 1969, and is licenced to operate through April 4, 2009. The reactor gets its cooling water from Barnegat Bay, a brackish estuary that empties into the Atlantic Ocean through the Barnegat Inlet. Fishing off a bridge near this generating station is very popular, due to the warm water during all times of the year. However, from time to time the plant is fined for massive fish killings due to extremely hot water or fish that get caught in the nets, along with debris, that keeps the water clean to be used within the plant.

License extension

AmerGen Energy and its owner, Exelon, are currently seeking a license renewal to operate for another 20 years. According to a survey commissioned by the operators, relicensing of the power plant is greatly supported by the majority of citizens living in areas surrounding the plant, and by local elected officials.^[1]
However, some local opposition to re-licensing was evident at public hearings on the issue. On May 31 2007, several hundred Ocean County residents attended the Atomic Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) hearing in the county administration building. At that meeting, many of the local residents were adamantly opposed to re-licensing of the nuclear power plant. ^[2]
The ASLB's decision on the May 31, 2007 hearing has led to a full public hearing on the issue of the monitoring of corrosion in the plant's drywell liner. The hearing is slated for September 24 2007 in the county seat Toms River. ^[3]
Also in May 2007, the state Attorney General's Office, on behalf of the state Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), petitioned the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals to compel the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to consider the potential for a terrorist attack as part of the criteria for Oyster Creek's licensing renewal process. ^[4] In July 2007, the NJDEP faulted both AmerGen and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for erroneously relying on environmental studies that were up to 30 years old at the time of AmerGen's relicensing application. The NJDEP refused to make a "positive consistency determination" for Oyster Creek, as required by the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. The positive determination is required for all applicants seeking to relicense an existing facility. ^[5]
Among those opposing relicensing, the life expectancy of the generating station is in question due to the possible corrosion of the concrete infrastructure that should protect the environment from large radioactive releases in the event of a plant accident and failure of other mechanisms. If a leak should occur it could displace as many as 200,000 families in Ocean, Monmouth, and Burlington counties. Citizens opposing the 20-year relicensing have indicated incremental 5 year reapprovals as an option, provided the facility inspects to get reapproval.

References

1. Results of Public Opinion Survey Regarding Oyster Creek Relicensing
2. [Examiner, June 28, 2007, Oyster Creek's time is up, residents tell board, http://examiner.gmnews.com/news/2007/0628/Front_Page/016.html ]
3. [Asbury Park Press, June 20, 2007, http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070620/NEWS03/706200316/1007]
4. [Three Mile Island Alert, N.J. FILES APPEAL OF RULING ON REACTOR, April 26, 2007, http://www.tmia.com/News/NJSuesOverSecurity.htm]
5. [Brick Township Bulletin, July 5, 2007, http://tritown.gmnews.com/news/2007/0705/Front_Page/039.html]

External links

★ AmerGen Site

★ DOE Page

★ NEI

★ NA-YGN