The prospective owner of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is requesting an exemption to federal rules so it can use $20 million from the facility’s decommissioning trust fund for “irradiated fuel management activities.”
Staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday issued a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for any potential environmental effects from the proposed exemption. A decision on the request, from the head of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards, should be issued in the near future, an agency spokesman said.
NorthStar Group Services filed the request on May 25 on behalf of current plant owner Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, which it aims to buy this year from parent company Entergy and rename NorthStar Vermont Yankee. The NRC could rule within days on the license transfers necessary for the deal, which also requires approval from Vermont’s Public Utility Commission.
Once the deal closes, NorthStar would assume responsibility for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management at Vermont Yankee.
Federal regulations allow for withdrawals from decommissioning trusts for “legitimate” operations covered by the official definition of decommissioning, which does not cover irradiated fuel management. NorthStar would need the exemption for the envisioned work, including security and environmental monitoring of the dry storage pads for the plant’s spent fuel.
The decommissioning trust money would be used only following NRC approval of the license transfer application and closing of the property sale, according to the Federal Register notice. NorthStar pledged that the decommissioning trust has sufficient funds to cover the work, even minus the $20 million.
NorthStar says it can complete decommissioning as early as 2026 at a cost of roughly $811 million.
“The NRC’s finding recognizes the extent of financial safeguards and regulatory oversight that will guide NorthStar’s efforts to safely restore the Vermont Yankee site to productive economic use decades sooner than originally anticipated, while also ensuring that spent fuel remaining on site will be secure,” NorthStar CEO Scott State said in a statement to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
