The Palisades Community Advisory Panel met on Wednesday and on hand for a presentation on the decommissioning of the Covert facility were representatives of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Decommissioning inspector Rhex Edwards said the shutdown of the plant begins with taking it out of service. Hundreds of hours of inspection will follow while the NRC monitors radiation.
“Throughout operations and continuing into decommissioning, the site must monitor the environment for radiological impacts from the plant,” Edwards said. “The NRC’s regulations require it, and these requirements are included in the licensing policies.”
The decommissioning will be handled by Holtec and will cost more than $600 million. Edwards said the NRC monitors its finances to ensure it has enough on hand to complete the process. The timeline begins with taking the plant out of service this year, getting it into a safe storage condition in 2025, dismantling it starting around 2035, and then having it all done in 2041.
