Morris Operation Decommissioned
The Morris Operation, the nations only permanent storage facility for high level transuranic toxic waste, is set to be decommissioned. Situated adjacent from Dresden Nuclear Power Plant, in Morris Illinois, the facility was originally designed as a nuclear fuel reprocessing center but later became a permanent home for nuclear waste from Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, Cooper Nuclear Station, Dresden Generating Station, Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, and San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
Shipments of spent nuclear fuel rods began in 1972, eventually housing 772 tons of nuclear waste, in cooling pools. The license for the facility expired in 2022. A report from the NRC states:
The site was originally designed as a fuel reprocessing center; however no fuel was
ever reprocessed at the site. Startup testing using natural uranium resulted in the
contamination of various systems and the canyon walls located within the Process
Building. Startup testing was discontinued in 1974 and the terms of the current site
license revised to allow “storage only” of irradiated fuel.
The site’s original design included two water filled storage basins, one for spent fuel and
another for storing high level waste. Irradiated fuel was first received at the site and
1972 and continued until 1989. During this time fuel storage capacity was increased
twice, once in 1973 by utilizing the high-level waste storage basin and in 1975 by
removing the original fuel storage baskets and racks and replacing them with higher
density baskets and a grid support system. Currently there are approximately 3,000
fuel bundles stored on site.
Mobile and/or stationary air monitors and samplers are available as necessary to
provide information concerning airborne radioactive material concentration and radiation
levels. These systems provide data for radiation exposure evaluations of personnel
working inside radiation control areas.