A deal could be approaching to resolve Pennsylvania’s concerns about the planned sale and decommissioning of the long-retired reactor Unit 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
In a motion filed Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to wait at least until Aug. 11 to rule on the commonwealth’s request for more time to seek a hearing on the transfer of the reactor’s federal license. That should be enough time to know whether its concerns can be resolved, according to DEP Assistant Counsel Alicia Duke.
The Pennsylvania agency in April submitted its petition for intervention in the NRC’s review of the petition to transfer the reactor license from FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiaries to EnergySolutions branch TMI-2 Solutions LLC. The license transfer would be followed by sale of the reactor, after which TMI-2 Solutions would assume all responsibility for decommissioning.
In its petition, DEP cited concerns about ensuring sufficient funding to complete decommissioning under the expedited schedule. At the time, it also asked for an extension of the schedule for submitting a request for a hearing to formally address its concerns to the commission – even though a petition for intervention generally serves as the petition for a hearing in an NRC license proceeding.
“The Department has had discussions with Applicants concerning its contention and is currently in the process of evaluating whether its concerns have been fully addressed. The Department anticipates that it will be able to determine if it can withdraw its Petition by August 10, 2020,” Duke wrote.
The commission is considering both the April intervention petition and this week’s filing, but there was no word on the schedule for the proceeding.
FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said Tuesday details of the discussions with the commonwealth are confidential and she could not discuss the matter further. The Department of Environmental Protection and EnergySolutions did not respond to queries.
Unit 2 at the Harrisburg-area facility famously operated for just a few months before a partial meltdown in March 1979. It never reopened, and its spent fuel was eventually shipped to storage at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.
General Public Utilities (GPU) Nuclear holds the possession-only license for the reactor, which is kept in monitored storage.
Last October, EnergySolutions signed a contract to acquire the reactor from FirstEnergy and subsidiaries GPU Nuclear, Metropolitan Edison Co., Jersey Central Power & Light Co., and Pennsylvania Electric Co. TMI-2 Solutions would be the facility owner, with decommissioning managed by a joint venture of EnergySolutions and New Jersey construction company Jingoli.
The companies hope to complete the sale in the second half of 2020. The ownership transfer must be approved by both the NRC and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, based on Jersey Central’s stake in the reactor.
In information submitted on April 13 to the Department of Environmental Protection, GPU Nuclear and EnergySolutions projected the cost of decommissioning the reactor at nearly $1.1 billion. The operation will require the removal of structures and reduction of radiation levels to the point that the property can be put to alternative use. The forecast price tag was well above the $892 million in the decommissioning trust for the reactor, but the companies said fund growth of at least 2% should cover the margin.
The Department of Environmental Protection and the advocacy group Three Mile Island Alert filed separate requests for intervention on April 15.
In the commonwealth petition, Duke noted that the applicants’ financial assurances to complete the project encompass the decommissioning trust fund for Unit 2, a $100 million additional backstop from TMI-2 Solutions, and “the limited guarantee of payment and performance from its parent company EnergySolutions, Inc. “However, the Department believes it is necessary for the full Commission and NRC staff to ensure that the record demonstrates that there is adequate protection for the citizens of Pennsylvania as required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954,” she wrote.
Among other questions raised in its petition, DEP said the applicants specifically failed to provide details regarding the anticipated $200 million accrual in the fund over 16 years of decommissioning.
FirstEnergy and EnergySolutions opposed both petitions for intervention. In their joint May 11 filing on the DEP petition, the companies said the commonwealth failed to demonstrate there was insufficient information about financial assurance for decommissioning, which in any case was available via a proprietary version of the license transfer application.
Power company Exelon owns the other reactor at Three Mile Island, Unit 1, which shut down last September. The company plans to place it into SAFSTOR mode, under which final decommissioning an be delayed for up to 60 years.
NRC Approves Emergency Preparedness Exemptions for Three Mile Island
Meanwhile, the members of Nuclear Regulatory Commission have voted 4-1 to approve an exemption for some emergency planning requirements for the onetime nuclear power plant.
The commissioners’ votes and comments were collected during the past couple weeks, and posted Monday to the NRC website. Commissioner Jeff Baran cast the sole vote against the exemption.
Exelon requested the exemption from the federal agency’s requirements to have dedicated off-site emergency preparedness planning for Three Mile Island, including emergency planning zones. The Chicago-based company manages emergency preparedness for the two reactors.
The exemptions will take effect no earlier than Jan. 20, 2021 – 488 days after Unit 1 shut down.
Exelon determined in an analysis, confirmed by NRC staff, that after that point it would take no less than 10 hours for even the hottest used-fuel assembly to reach the temperature of 900 degrees Celsius. “This 10-hour minimum threshold provides sufficient time for TMI to take mitigative actions, or if governmental officials deem warranted, for offsite protective actions to be initiated using a comprehensive approach to emergency planning,” NRC Executive Director for Operations Margaret Doane wrote in a May 5 memo on the staff recommendation in support of the exemptions.
In their comments, commissioners said the facility poses a reduced hazard following the end of operations at Unit 1 and transfer of its used fuel into a cooling pool.
In his written statement, new Commissioner Christopher Hanson noted that 18 reactor-decommissioning projects elsewhere have received similar exemptions to emergency preparedness planning. “I am convinced by the technical bases underlying the staff’s ultimate determination, which demonstrate that a significant reduction in the risk of large radiological release is achieved as the site transitions from operation to decommissioning status, in part due to the longer response time available for operators to implement mitigation actions, if needed.”
However, Baran wrote that the Federal Emergency Management Agency believes advance planning for the off-site parts of emergencies would reduce the confusion and complications in dealing with a crisis as it is occurring.
