Preliminary Evaluation of Removing Used Nuclear Fuel from Shutdown Sites
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September 30, 2017
During the decommissioning of the Big Rock Point reactor, heavy haul trucks were used to move the reactor pressure vessel and steam drum from the Big Rock Point site to nearby rail sidings or spurs. In 2003, the reactor pressure vessel from the Big Rock Point reactor was moved on a Goldhofer trailer with 36 independently controlled axles and 144 tires propelled by two 1000-horsepower engines (Figure 2-69) about 52 miles to a rail spur near Gaylord, Michigan, transloaded onto an ETMX1001 railcar (Figure 2-70 through Figure 2-72), and then transported by rail to the Barnwell, South Carolina low-level radioactive waste disposal facility (Petrosky 2004, Slimp et al. 2014) (Figure 2-73). The Big Rock Point pressure vessel and its shipping package weighed more than 565,000 lb. Figure 2-74 shows the route taken from the Big Rock Point site to Gaylord, Michigan. The Lake State Railway in the vicinity of Gaylord is designated as track class 2. In the vicinity of Big Rock Point, a detour off of U.S. 31 was required to bypass an abandoned overhead rail bridge with inadequate vertical clearance. Figure 2-75 shows this detour and Figure 2-76 shows the bridge. Figure 2-77 shows the route taken by the reactor pressure vessel in the vicinity of Gaylord, Michigan and Figure 2-78 and Figure 2-79 show the condition in 2013 of the rail crossing and spur used for the Big Rock Point reactor pressure vessel transload. The track class at this crossing and spur appears to be “Excepted” and would likely require refurbishment prior to use for used nuclear fuel shipments. In 2003, the Big Rock Point steam drum was also moved by heavy haul truck about 13 miles to a rail siding near Petoskey, Michigan, transloaded onto a railcar, and then transported by rail to the EnergySolutions low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Clive, Utah (Gretzner 2006, Tompkins 2006). The steam drum weighed 200,000 lb. (Figure 2-80 and Figure 2-81). The Great Lakes Central Railroad is designated as track class 1 in the vicinity of Petoskey. The height of the steam drum on its transporter was low enough so that it did not require the same detour as described for the reactor pressure vessel and was able to take U.S. 31 from the Big Rock Point site into Petoskey, Michigan (see Figure 2-74). Figure 2-82 shows the route taken by the reactor pressure vessel in the vicinity of Petoskey, Michigan and Figure 2-83 shows the condition in 2013 of the of rail crossing and siding used for Big Rock Point steam drum transload.
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