A Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board panel has rejected the latest contentions filed by citizen groups against restart of the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan.
The three-judge Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) panel ruled on June 20 against the petitioning organizations of Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, Michigan Safe Energy Future, Three Mile Island Alert and Nuclear Energy Information Service.
The petitioners intend to appeal the recent ASLB ruling, a Beyond Nuclear spokesperson said on Monday.
The panel denied the petitioners’ motion and terminated the proceeding, finding the contentions “do not satisfy the agency’s admissibility requirements,” according to a June 20 Memorandum and Order.
The ruling found there was not much new in the latest filing, made in March. The ASLB panel said many of the amended contentions were “substantively, and substantially” similar to the original ones. Other contentions failed to provide support for the advocacy group claims, the panel found.
Beyond Nuclear and the other groups filed a motion for leave to file new and amended contentions on March 3.
The five amended and new contentions challenged the NRC’s draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant impact for Holtec’s Palisades restart project, which were posted on January 31 on the Federal Register.
