ML24135A354

NRC Response to Jody Flynn of Michigan Regarding Statements Made About Holtec in the April 25, 2024 Peekskill Herald Article: Holtec Playing Fast and Loose with Taxpayers Money by Tina Volz-Bongar (Docket 50-255)

ML24135A354
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	05/20/2024
From:	Marlayna Vaaler Doell Reactor Decommissioning Branch
To:	Flynn J - No Known Affiliation
Shared Package
ML24122A787	List: ML24135A354
References
Download: ML24135A354 (1)

Text

From: Marlayna Doell To: jodygflynn@gmail.com

Subject:

U.S. NRC Response to Concerns About Palisades Nuclear Plant Date: Monday, May 20, 2024 11:33:00 AM

Dear Jody Flynn,

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your email dated April 27, 2024 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML24130A225), in which you provided a link to a letter to the editor of the Peekskill Herald, dated April 25, 2024, regarding issues related to Holtec Decommissioning International, LLCs (HDIs) operations at the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 1, 2, and 3 (Indian Point) in Westchester County, New York. These concerns primarily relate to the planned discharge of liquid effluents from Indian Point into the Hudson River. I appreciate your concerns regarding HDIs actions more generally, and how they may relate to HDIs activities at the Palisades Nuclear Plant (Palisades) in Van Buren County, Michigan.

While the concerns raised in the letter to the editor referenced in your email relate specifically to Indian Point, it is important to note that the NRCs oversight of licensees extends to all operating and decommissioning reactors, including HDIs license for Palisades. As part of that oversight, the NRC inspects the actions and the records of its licensees, including HDI, throughout the lifetime of a nuclear power plant in order to ensure that compliance with the NRCs safety and environmental standards is maintained. These standards were developed specifically to implement the NRCs statutory mission - that of providing reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety and the environment, which includes limits on exposure to radiation.

As it relates to effluent release, licensees are required to have an environmental monitoring program that includes sampling and analyses to demonstrate that radiological effluent releases are within the prescribed limits. The results of the environmental monitoring program are submitted annually to the NRC and are reviewed as part of the NRCs routine oversight activities regarding the release of effluents from a nuclear power plant, including effluent releases into Lake Michigan. The annual environmental monitoring reports are publicly available on the NRCs website at:

https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/tritium/plant-info.html.In addition, the Palisades annual report for 2023 is publicly available in ADAMS, see: Palisades Nuclear Plant - Annual Radiological Environmental Operating Report (ML24114A050).

Regarding the decommissioning trust fund, the NRC performs a review of all decommissioning licensees decommissioning funding status on an annual basis. This includes the status of funding for managing irradiated fuel, and an assessment of the licensees financial assurance report to ensure it demonstrates that adequate funding is available to complete radiological decommissioning activities in accordance with the NRCs requirements. HDIs decommissioning financial assurance report covering 2023 for both Indian Point and Palisades is currently under review by the NRC staff, and is publicly available in ADAMS: see Report on Status of Decommissioning Funding for Reactors and Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations - Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI)

(ML24089A117).

The NRC will continue to provide oversight at both Indian Point and Palisades until completion of the decommissioning process and termination of the associated NRC licenses. Additionally, in response to a growing number of questions regarding various decommissioning topics, including that of effluent release and the costs of decommissioning, being received by the NRC, the NRC has assembled the responses to some of the more frequent questions on a webpage for easy access by interested stakeholders.. The Frequently Asked Questions page can be found at this link:

https://www.nrc.gov/waste/decommissioning/faq.html. Information specific to Indian Point effluent releases can be found at this link: https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/ip3/faq.html.

In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 2.390, Public inspections, exemptions, requests for withholding, a copy of this letter will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records component of NRCs ADAMS. ADAMS is accessible from the NRC website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

If you have any questions concerning the above, please contact me at 301-415-3178 or via email at marlayna.doell@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, Marlayna Doell, Project Manager USNRC

Marlayna Vaaler Doell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Decommissioning Project Manager U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NMSS/DUWP/RDB

Phone: 301.415.3178 E-mail: marlayna.doell@nrc.gov