The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given final authorization for power company Entergy to use the decommissioning trust fund for the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for management of the site’s spent reactor fuel.
The regulator announced publication of its environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) on the exemption to federal rules in a Dec. 26 Federal Register notice.
Entergy closed Vermont Yankee in December 2014, and the next month asked the NRC for exemption from two segments of the Code of Federal Regulations in order to use money from its decommissioning trust for irradiated fuel management operations disconnected with radiological cleanup of the plant itself. The commission approved the request in June 2015, but in November of that year the decision was challenged by the state of Vermont, prior plant owner Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp., and state utility Green Mountain Power Corp.
The petitioners objected to NRC staff’s use of a “categorical exclusion” from the requirement for a comprehensive environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act to approve the exemptions. While it did not stop Entergy from applying decommissioning trust funds to spent fuel work, the commission in October 2016 ruled against use of a categorical exclusion under the law and required that NRC staff conduct an environmental assessment (EA) to determine if there were any environmental effects connected with the exemptions.
“Based on the results of this final EA, the NRC has determined that it is not necessary to prepare an environmental impact statement and is therefore issuing this final FONSI,” according to the Federal Register notice.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff, in reviewing the exemption request, determined the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust, including future contributions and anticipated earnings, would reasonably be expected to cover both site cleanup and irradiated fuel management, according to the Federal Register notice. Staff also played down the environmental impacts of the exemptions, noting they do not allow Entergy to carry out additional land-disturbing operations or new regulatory operations that could affect air quality, traffic and transportation, environmental justice, socioeconomics, or accidents.
Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning trust fund held $581.8 million as of Nov. 30, 2017, according to Michael Twomey, vice president for external affairs at Entergy Wholesale Commodities.
At the end of November, Entergy had since June 2015 spent $42 million from the account for fuel management activities including operations of the plant’s spent fuel pool and independent spent fuel storage installation, and the ongoing transfer of used fuel from wet to dry storage, Twomey said by email.
Entergy aims to complete the transfer of roughly 3,000 spent fuel assemblies by the close of 2018. The plant’s used fuel will eventually fill 58 storage casks spread across two independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSI). Twenty-one of 45 casks involved in the current move have been loaded and placed on the storage pad, Twomey said.
The state and its fellow petitioners in the NRC review raised a number of objections to the NRC staff’s draft environmental assessment and FONSI, arguing that a full environmental impact statement should have been triggered under the National Environmental Policy Act and that staff failed to address the planned sale of Vermont Yankee in the environmental assessment. The NRC disagreed with all comments.
The Vermont Attorney General’s Office is reviewing the environmental assessment and FONSI, and has no other comment, Assistant Attorney General Kyle Landis-Marinello said this week. Entergy also declined to comment on the decision.
Entergy hopes by the end of this year to complete the sale of Vermont Yankee to New York City-based NorthStar Group Services, which says it can complete decommissioning by 2026 at a cost of $811.5 million. The NRC and Vermont Public Utility Commission must both approve the $1,000 deal, under which the decommissioning trust would pass to NorthStar.
The Public Utility Commission was scheduled Thursday to hold its second public hearing on the planned sale, with attendance from Entergy and NorthStar representatives. However, the event was postponed due to the massive winter storm that hit the East Coast.
Executives from both companies, along with experts for the Vermont Public Service Department, are also scheduled to be interviewed in a second round of PUC depositions starting next week.
The Public Service Department, tasked to represent Vermont residents on utility issues, is one of a handful of state and nongovernmental organizations authorized to intervene in the PUC evaluation. All have expressed concerns about the deal, including whether NorthStar has the financial means to completely decommission Vermont Yankee.