Cook Nuclear Plant To Start Moving Spent Fuel

Cook Nuclear Plant is starting to get ready to move used fuel. Plans are to load 14 casks with spent nuclear fuel, with each one taking about a week to load, seal, prepare and move from inside the plant to a storage facility. The Dry Cask Storage Facility has recently been completed, and had been needed as the steel-lined concrete pool that Cook has been using to store spent fuel since it opened is nearly full. The new facility is temporary, as Indiana Michigan Power says the U.S. Department of Energy still has not come through on its obligation to develop a permanent storage facility. The new temporary location is about a half-mile from Lake Michigan on the property of the Cook plant. The used fuel will be sealed in airtight stainless steel canisters designed to withstand tornados, earthquakes, floods, sabotage, missiles, temperature extremes and aircraft.