CDI is a joint venture company of Holtec International and SNC-Lavalin of Canada.
Holtec said Pilgrim’s decommissioning will make the 1700-acre site fit for commercial or industrial use except for a small parcel of land where the dry storage casks will remain to be held.
The first steps in the decommissioning process will include the transfer of the plant’s used nuclear fuel from its spent fuel pool to a robust dry storage system onsite, Holtec said.
The company is planning to later ship the used fuel to its proposed Hi-Store interim storage facility in southeast New Mexico which is undergoing licensing review by the NRC.
According to Holtec, Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust fund is adequate to cover the cost of the site’s decontamination and decommissioning.
Holtec said the decommissioning project team will include approximately 270 current Pilgrim employees, while at different stages of the process, Holtec personnel will also be joining the project.
Pilgrim, a 677-MW boiling water reactor unit, was shut down permanently on 31 May 2019, after 46 years of commercial operation.
The sale of the single-unit plant by former operator Entergy Corporation to Holtec was completed on 26 August 2019.
