Aging NJ nuke plant has fire as license vote nears

By Wayne Parry
Associated Press Writer / February 2, 2009

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J.—A weekend fire shut down the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, the nation's oldest commercial nuclear plant, just days before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to clear the way for a new 20-year license.

Authorities said the fire, which was in a separate building from the nuclear reactor, was not a threat to public safety and released no radiation. It left a thin film of oil on the plant grounds and in a canal, said Beth Archer, a spokeswoman for the plant's owner, Chicago-based Exelon Corp.

The oil was being cleaned up Monday, she said. There was no immediate word of any impact on fish or other wildlife.

The blaze broke out in an electrical transformer just before 10 p.m. Sunday and burned for about 15 minutes before being brought under control with the aid of outside fire companies.

The cause was still being investigated Monday, and the plant remained shut down. The transformer damaged in the fire had just been installed in December, replacing an older unit that had failed.

Later this week, the NRC is expected to reject the last remaining challenge by opponents to the plant's application for a new license that would run through 2029. The plant, whose boiling water design is considered obsolete, would be 60 years old at the end of that license.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the fire should have no bearing on the commission's scheduled "affirmation hearing" Wednesday.

Opponents want further analysis of the drywell -- a steel barrier surrounding the nuclear reactor designed to contain radiation in the event of an accident. They claim the liner has corroded and weakened to the point where it is unsafe, a charge denied by the plant's owners.
The agency determined in November that the liner is strong enough to operate safely at least through its next scheduled inspection in 2012.

In addition to concerns about the strength of the steel liner, opponents also cite the threat of a terrorist attack on the plant -- something that the NRC is not considering -- and the fact that the main evacuation route away from the plant is a one-lane road that is often choked with traffic.

Supporters cite the plant's high-paying jobs (as much as $70,000 to $80,000 a year in a region without much industry) and the more than $9 million it pays in state and local taxes each year.

If the NRC's commissioners reject the opponents' claims on Wednesday, the agency can then direct its staff to issue a new license to Oyster Creek, Sheehan said. He could not say how soon such a directive might occur.

Richard Webster, an attorney representing a coalition of environmental and community groups who want the plant shut down, said the fire is just one more example that shows Oyster Creek is too old to operate safely.

"This kind of thing happens pretty regularly down there," he said. "We think it's far too early to move ahead and make a final decision."

Oyster Creek, which last had a transformer fire in the late 1980s, according to plant officials, is located in the Forked River section of Lacey Township, about 60 miles east of Philadelphia.

The Nine Mile Point Nuclear generating Station near Oswego, N.Y., went online Dec. 1, 1969 -- the same day as Oyster Creek -- and has already gotten a new 20-year license. But Oyster Creek's license was granted first, technically making it the oldest of the nation's 104 commercial nuclear reactors that are still operating.

The plant generates 636 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 600,000 homes a year. It provides 9 percent of New Jersey's electricity.