Worcester Polytechnic Institute

1.0 Site Identification

2.0 Site Status Summary

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a license amendment for Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on August 26, 2008. That amendment eliminated the licensee's authority to operate the reactor, authorized possession only of the reactor, and amended the Technical Specifications to remove operational requirements not needed for possession-only status. WPI subsequently submitted its Decommissioning Plan (DP), dated March 31, 2009, for NRC review, and the agency accepted the DP for review and issued a Request for Additional Information (RAI) on June 25, 2009. WPI then submitted its Fuel Removal Quality Assurance (QA) Program Plan for NRC review during the week of August 7, 2009, and the agency approved the QA Plan on August 19, 2009. The final DP was submitted by WPI on September 30, 2009.  WPI also submitted its final Transportation Plan (TP) on December 8, 2009, in support of its removal of fuel from the reactor and NRC accepted the TP on February 17, 2010.  The NRC developed and published an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact on October 7, 2010.

3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues

The continuance of the decommissioning process is contingent on the removal of fuel from the WPI facility. WPI has informed the NRC that fuel will be removed from the reactor and transported to UMass-Lowell. Toward that end, UMass-Lowell, WPI, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have agreed that a fuel transportation date of mid-to-late July 2011 is appropriate.

4.0 Estimated Date For Closure

TBD