A three-judge panel for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board denied the requested hearing challenging plans to restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan in a 2-1 vote.
In a 71-page ruling made on March 31, the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board stated, “we conclude that Joint Petitioners and Petitioning Organizations have demonstrated standing to intervene, but their proposed contentions are not admissible.”
The Palisades foes called for NRC to update its Defueled Safety Analysis Report and challenged the NRC’s process of reviewing license amendment requests. The administrative judges said the opponents contentions were “general” and “speculative.”
“[The] Joint Petitioners do not provide references to support their assertions, and without more, we cannot conclude that they have raised a genuine dispute with Applicants on a material issue of law or fact,” the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board said in the ruling.
In an April 4 press release from Beyond Nuclear, the petitioning environmental groups said they intend to appeal the ruling.
The case is not closed as the administrative judges said the petitioning organizations moved to admit new and amended arguments, which are pending.
The two petitions were filed, one by joint petitioners led by Alan Blind. Blind is a retired nuclear engineering director at Palisades, based on a Linkedin profile. The other petition was filed by a group made up of Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, Michigan Safe Energy Future, Three Mile Island Alert. and Nuclear Energy Information Service.
The petitions challenged the license amendment requests and the exemption request for the Palisades restart. Several written filings were submitted in late 2024 and an oral argument was held on Feb. 12 regarding the restart’s license amendment requests.
