Who is JINGOLI Nuclear?
JINGOLI Nuclear Services (JNS) is a full-service company specializing in the development, planning, construction/modification, start-up, commissioning, maintenance, project controls, and decommissioning of nuclear plant projects. After working at various plants for several decades, JINGOLI Nuclear was formed with a core team of experts to meet the increasing workload of our nuclear projects.
Our formula is simple – industry leading talent, working relentlessly toward the project objectives, strong project controls, predictable delivery, and integrity based results.
We have a diverse, vertically integrated skillset. What does that mean for our clients? JINGOLI Nuclear handles all aspects of the project from concept through closeout delivering execution efficiency and cost effectiveness in a transparent manner.
Three Mile Island 2 Harrisburg, PA
Three Mile Island 2
Harrisburg, PA
Three Mile Island Unit
2 – Decommissioning & Decontamination
JINGOLI Nuclear Services (JNS) is part of the historymaking team overseeing the Decommissioning and Decontamination (D&D) of the Three Mile Island Unit
2 Nuclear Generating Station (TMI-2). In 1979, TMI-
2 experienced a partial meltdown, which resulted in the facility’s permanent closure. In 2019, JINGOLI and EnergySolutions partnered to execute the $750M+ project expected to rewrite the history of one of the world’s three worst commercial nuclear disasters.
The D&D of TMI-2 is broken into two phases. Phase 1 is focused on removing the remaining 1% of Fuel Bearing Material that was disbursed during the 1979 accident throughout the plant and remains after the initial clean-up concluded in the early 1990s. Phase 1 is expected to last roughly 10 years, with the goal of having the plant cleaned to a condition analogous to a non-accident nuclear site. Phase 2 of the project is expected to last approximately another five years.
It will consist of broad dismantlement and demolition of all plant structures and restore the site back to a greenfield site consistent with the island’s condition before the plant’s construction in the 1970s.
Since 2019, JNS has been diligently scheduling, estimating, and planning how to decommission, decontaminate, and eventually demolish TMI-2, and on May 8, 2023, TMI2 was granted a license amendment from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to enter active decommissioning (DECON), allowing fieldwork to begin in earnest. Since this license amendment, JNS has been installing the necessary infrastructure and performing initial clean-up activities in preparation for larger component dismantlement. Due to the nature of the accident and the resulting extreme radiological conditions at the present day, JNS is utilizing technological solutions to accomplish first-of-its-kind and complex nuclear decommissioning tasks.
Utilizing State-of-the-Art Technology to Guide and Support Decommissioning Activities
The first step in any decommissioning project is to characterize the plant and determine the severity of the radiological contamination. TMI-2 requires a more sophisticated level of characterization due to the high risk of overexposure created by the accident. The Project Team chose specialty 3D scanning technology (LiDar) and coupled it with radiation detection equipment to create thousands of data points within the Reactor Building. The resultant is a 3D map showing radiation intensity and dose planes to identify where latent radioactive isotopes and contamination exist in the basement.
Radiation Point Cloud images detail where “hot spots” exist such that surgical demolition can be carried out for the maximum radiological payload. These point cloud maps also help in planning where low-dose waiting areas may be placed to shield personnel and sensitive equipment maximally.
To deploy the 3D Scanning and radiation detection equipment in areas of the Reactor Building with expected lethal dose rates, the Project Team selected numerous technologies to replace hand work with robots. Drone vehicles were used to provide full visual scans of accessible areas to assist with geometrical awareness as many of the locations had not been viewed since before the accident in 1979.
Drone flights provided real-time video feed of many areas that are generally inaccessible, due to the lethal dose rates. The above image is a snapshot of a live flight shows an area inside of the Fuel Transfer Canal just above the Reactor Vessel. The drone flight video helped the Planning Team spatially define where items were located versus relying on as-built drawings.
Radiation Mapping
Drone Visual Scan
3D Scanning and Radiological Characterization through the Boston Dynamics SPOT Robot
One of the most radiologically dangerous areas with the highest level of contamination at TMI-2 is the Reactor Building Basement. To complete the 3D scanning and radiological assessment, the Project Team used the Boston Dynamics SPOT Robot, a versatile and agile robot that surveyed the high-radiation basement.
By employing SPOT, the Project Team could fully eliminate all handwork associated with the Reactor Building Basement Characterization study.
With an eye toward ingenuity and solutions-based outcomes, the Project Team prepared and 3D-printed an apparatus to fit precisely into SPOT’s mouth. This allowed for greater reach of the radiological survey instrument in critical locations, such as the basement elevation of the Reactor Building, as pictured above.
Now that the Characterization study is complete, the next step in D&D is to select the technologies to aid in the removal of the hot spots and fuelbearing material. One of the solutions the Project Team has selected to reduce personal contamination and radiological dose risk is to use an Integrated Command Center. This technology deploys remote demolition equipment operations, remote lifting and crane operations, personnel and radiological area sensing equipment, alternate perspective remote vehicles (cameras and lights), and shielded waste container loading equipment, all from the safety of an onsite Office building instead of at the work face.
SPOT Robot
Brokk Machines for Remote Operations
The Brokk machines selected, as shown above, offer tethered and remote operations of the units. With six different hydraulically driven end effectors (crusher, hammer, scabbler, bucket, grapple, and shear) along with two of the units being “rad-hardened” and designed to be less susceptible to radiation, they have the versatility to provide solutions-based outcomes in all shapes and sizes. This machine is being controlled from a Robotics operations room at the site over four hundred yards from the physical demolition.
Brokk Machines
Large Component Removal Offsite
The first of many large components to be shipped offsite for final radiological disposal, the Equipment Hatch Personnel Air Lock (PAL) was an integrated component of the larger equipment hatch. Its removal was not only the first major shipment but also a literal new opening into the reactor building that allowed greater access and efficiency for D&D activities.
Fuel Bearing Material
Long Term Storage Construction
VCC (Vertical Concrete Cask) construction is being performed on the south end of TMI-2 to allow for components that cannot be shipped or buried at offsite locations. 14 casks are being constructed for use at TMI-2 and will be utilized for the removal of components such as Reactor Vessel Internals, select Steam Generator Components, and other fuel-bearing materials. The empty casks weigh 285,000 pounds and will be transported around the site by a Vertical Cask Transporter.
VCC (Vertical Concrete Cask)
Large Component Removal
JINGOLI Part of Joint Venture to Decommission Three Mile Island Unit-2
Energy Solutions Inc. announced it signed a term sheet with FirstEnergy to acquire and transfer Unit-2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear generating station located near Middletown, Pa.
To perform decommissioning work, EnergySolutions and Jingoli, a construction company headquartered in Lawrenceville, formed a joint venture called ES/Jingoli Decommissioning LLC.
Three Mile Island’s Unit-2 has been in a safe and stable storage condition known as Post Defueling Monitored Storage for the last 30 years under the regulatory oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Its nuclear fuel was removed in the 1980s after a pump failure in March of 1979 triggered an emergency shutdown that resulted in a partial meltdown and a radiation leak. It remains the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. Unit-2 was then relocated to an offsite storage facility at the Idaho National Laboratory.
The remaining decommissioning work will result in complete dismantlement and removal of all nuclear waste.
Jingoli has successfully managed and executed nuclear projects on behalf of numerous utilities in the United States and Canada with experience in the nuclear field from pre-construction, construction management, project controls and decommissioning.
With the term sheet signed, EnergySolutions and FirstEnergy will proceed with definitive agreements and applications to the NRC for the transfer of all licenses and assets.
Three Mile Island Enters New Phase of Cleanup
The site of the country’s most serious accident at a commercial nuclear power plant is entering a new phase of cleanup. TMI-2 Solutions has finished the planning phase for decommissioning Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 reactor, which partially melted down in 1979.
At a recent meeting of the company’s Community Advisory Panel, project managers said 99% of the spent nuclear fuel was cleaned up after the accident. The site has been in a state of monitored storage for the last 30 years.Now the company is moving into an active cleanup period known as DECON. This next phase will last until 2029.
DECON involves removing contaminated materials and sending them to a commercially operated disposal site. Project Director David Del Vecchio said they plan to construct a new building to handle materials before shipping.
Leftover damaged core debris will be stored onsite until it can be transferred to the Department of Energy. Del Vecchio said they used a robot dog called Spot to collect information inside the reactor building to guide future cleanup.“We’ll use other remotely-operated equipment to do a lot of the decommissioning activities because the radiological rates are so high within the building,” Del Vecchio said. Representatives from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state Department of Environmental Protection said TMI-2 Solutions has been receptive to suggestions for improvement at the site. They’ve found no violations during regular inspections.
Steve Letavic, head of the Community Advisory Panel and Londonderry Township Manager, said that cooperation is “welcoming and affirming.” TMI-2 Solutions plans to finish all demolition and cleanup by 2052, according to its latest report to the NRC. The company originally planned to be done by 2037, but said current market conditions are creating a delay.
The company, a subsidiary of Utah-based EnergySolutions, bought the site in 2020 with the intent of cleaning it up for less money than is available in a dedicated fund. The remaining money would be profit. TMI’s Unit 1 reactor shut down in 2019 because operators said it could not compete with cheaper energy sources. TMI-1 is owned by Constellation, a subsidiary of Exelon.
Rewriting History
TMI-2 is a difficult and complex D&D project, unlike any other project in the world. This immense challenge requires creative, innovative, and outside-of-the-box solutions. JNS has made great efforts to select, develop, and implement cutting-edge technologies to execute the D&D of TMI-2 safely, effectively, and within budget. While the decommissioning of Three Mile Island Unit 2 is a long way from completion, we are encouraged by the progress JNS has made to date and excited to help write the final, successful chapter on this historic project for the nuclear industry.
Three Mile Island 2 Harrisburg, PA
