The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given final authorization for power company Entergy to use the decommissioning trust for the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for management of the site’s irradiated fuel.
The regulator announced publication of its environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) on the exemption 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, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp., and Green Mountain Power Corp.
The petitioners objected to NRC staff’s use of a “categorical exclusion” to approve the exemptions. Concurring with the assertion, the commission in October 2016 ruled against use of a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act and required an environmental assessment to determine if there were any environmental impacts 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.
