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With extensive frontage along the Connecticut River and 525 picturesque acres, the CY property in Haddam Neck, Connecticut is an exceptional property.
The CY power plant has been fully decommissioned and the former plant area was released in 2007 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for unrestricted use. Following plant decommissioning, the CY groundwater monitoring program continued under Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) oversight until 2013 and demonstrated no CY related radioactivity or chemical contamination above the approved remediation criteria. In March 2014 the CTDEEP approved CY's plan to terminate the groundwater monitoring program, and in July 2014 CY requested termination of the stewardship permit. Following a public comment period and public hearing, on September 19, 2014 the CTDEEP issued a letter of completion and final determination to terminate the stewardship permit. On May 19, 2015, the CTDEEP issued the Certificate of Completion. This was the last step needed to terminate the stewardship permit and document CTDEEP approval of the restoration of the site to unrestricted use. CY was one of the recipients of the GreenCircle Award established by the CTDEEP to recognize businesses, institutions, individuals, and civic organizations who have participated in projects that promote natural resource conservation or environmental awareness. The award that was presented at a ceremony on December 2, 2015 in Hartford recognized the completion of the CY post-remediation groundwater monitoring program and the CY Stewardship Permit that documented the successful environmental restoration of the former nuclear reactor site and the completion of all the required federal and state corrective action measures necessary to release the site for unrestricted use.
What remains at the CY site is the approximately 5 acre Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation consisting of 43 dry storage casks licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for storage and transport. 40 casks contain spent nuclear fuel used during the years of plant operation and 3 contain sections of the reactor vessel internals classified as high-level radioactive waste (Greater than Class C waste). The spent nuclear fuel and GTCC waste will remain at the CY site until the federal government fulfills its commitment to remove this material as required by the Standard Contract between Connecticut Yankee and the U.S. Department of Energy and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
CY has made no decisions regarding the disposition of the former plant site property and has established no timetable for making such a decision. All options that meet shareholder, ratepayer, community, and other stakeholder interests remain open, including multiple uses, recognizing that the CY property includes many important characteristics (such as the spent fuel storage facility requirements) that will bear on any future owner and use considerations. CY shall continue to work with parties interested in potential productive and conservation related uses of portions or all of the property.
In January 2013 CY was pleased to transfer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approximately 38 acres of CY land along the Salmon River after reaching mutually agreeable terms and conditions. CY welcomed the opportunity offered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add this unique portion of CY's property to the Conte National Wildlife Refuge in Connecticut.
The 38 acre parcel was acquired by CY in August 2000 and is located adjacent to the 544 acre former plant site property. The 38 acres is often referred to as the former Schmidt Property and includes the homestead site of Venture Smith, the African slave who was able to earn freedom for himself and his family in the mid-1700's.