ML24163A147

Scott Hicks, FWS-Palisades-NOI to Conduct Scoping Process and Prepare an EA-EPID No. L-2024-LNE-0003-Docket No.50-0255

ML24163A147
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	06/28/2024
From:	Daniel Barnhurst NRC/NMSS/DREFS/ENRB
To:	Susan Hicks US Dept of Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service, Ecology Services
References
EPID L-2024-LNE-0003
Download: ML24163A147 (1)

Text

Scott Hicks, Field Supervisor Fish and Wildlife Service Michigan Ecological Services Field Office U.S. Department of Interior 2651 Coolidge Road Suite 101 East Lansing, MI 48823-6360 Project Code: 2024-0093462 Project Name: Palisades Nuclear Plant Restart

SUBJECT:

INITIATION OF SCOPING PROCESS TO PREPARE AN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW OF HOLTEC DECOMMISSIONING INTERNATIONAL, LLCS LICENSING AND REGULATORY REQUESTS FOR REAUTHORIZATION OF POWER OPERATIONS AT PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT (EPID NUMBER: L-2024-LNE-0003) (DOCKET NUMBER: 50-0255)

Dear Scott Hicks,

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is conducting an environmental review for a series of licensing and regulatory requests submitted by Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI) that seek NRC approvals to reauthorize power operations at the Palisades Nuclear Plant (PNP). These requests include an exemption request, a license transfer request, and license amendment requests. Concurrently, the U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO)s proposed action, pursuant to its authority under Title 17 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as amended, is the consideration of providing Federal financial assistance (a loan guarantee) to support the reauthorization of power operations at PNP. Accordingly, the DOE LPO will serve as a cooperating agency on the environmental review while the NRC will serve as the lead Federal agency under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and for consultation under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The purpose of this letter is to inform you about the NRCs upcoming environmental review activities. provides a table that lists the submittals received and the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) accession number information for the submittals and their associated NRC acceptance letters. This information can also be found on the NRC website at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/pali.html.

The PNP is located in Van Buren County, Michigan, along the shore of Lake Michigan, approximately 2.5 miles northwest of Covert Township (Enclosure 2). PNP permanently ceased operations on May 20, 2022, after more than 40 years of commercial operation. In early 2023, HDI, the licensee for PNP, expressed an interest in returning the plant to an operational status. June 28, 2024 S. Hicks

As mentioned, HDI is pursuing several licensing and regulatory actions to restore the operational licensing basis for the plant. The NRC will review HDIs submittals to ensure that HDIs proposal to restore the licensing basis of the plant to an operational status will comply with NRC safety, security, and environmental requirements. The licensing and regulatory requests, if approved, would allow for the placement of fuel into the reactor vessel and restart of power operations in Unit 1 for the duration of the renewed facility operating license term, which expires in 2031.

By letter dated June 18, 2024 (ML24169A434), the NRC accepted the last submittal associated with the licensing and regulatory requests to potentially reauthorize power operations at PNP.

As part of the review of these requests, the NRC staff is preparing an environmental assessment (EA) as required by Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 51, the NRCs regulations that implement NEPA. The NRC staff published a Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register on June 27, 2024 (89 FR 53659), thereby initiating the NRCs environmental review under NEPA. This notice informs stakeholders, including the public, that the NRC intends to conduct a 30-day scoping period to gather the information necessary to prepare an EA related to the review of the licensing and regulatory requests for the potential reauthorization of power operations at PNP.

As discussed in the NOI, the NRC and DOE LPO are providing stakeholders, including the public, with the opportunity to participate in a hybrid environmental scoping meeting to be held on July 11, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. eastern time (ET), at Mendel Center, Grand Upton Hall, at Lake Michigan College, 1100 Yore Ave, Parking Lot 3, Benton Harbor, Michigan, 49022, and will also hold an open house from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. Additional information including an the agenda for the meeting can be found on the NRCs Public Meeting Schedule website at https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg. 1 At this meeting, the NRC and DOE LPO staff will present an overview of the environmental review process, hold a brief question and answer session, and will solicit comments on the scope of the environmental review. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide comments during the meeting.

In addition to the public scoping meeting, comments or concerns on the scope of the environmental review may be submitted no later than the end of the comment period on July 29, 2024, via any of the following methods:

• Email comments to: PalisadesRestartEnvironmental@nrc.gov;

• Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff; or

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0076.

To support the EA development, the NRC received a list of threatened and endangered species that may occur in the location of the proposed project or may be affected by the proposed project through the Fish and Wildlife Services Information for Planning Consultation (IPaC) system (ML24178A000). As indicated in the IPaC, the NRCs point of contact for consultation is

1 The meeting announcement can be found by going to the NRCs public meeting website at https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg and locating the July 11 th public scoping meeting entry. Additional information about the meeting (e.g., agenda) can be found by clicking the links in the scoping meeting entry.

Peyton Doub and he can be reached via email at Peyton.Doub@nrc.gov. The NRC requests a point of contact for consultation from your agency for this project.

The NRC expects to issue the draft EA for public review and comment in January 2025. A copy of the draft EA will be made available for your review and comment.

If you have any questions on the project or the scoping meeting, please contact the environmental project managers, Laura Willingham at 301-415-0857 or via email at Laura.Willingham@nrc.gov or Mary Richmond at 301-415-7218 or via email at Mary.Richmond@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, Daniel Barnhurst, Chief Environmental Project Management Branch 3 Division of Rulemaking, Environment, and Financial Support Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Docket No.: 50-0255

Enclosures:

1. Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC, Submittals to Reauthorize Power Operations at the Palisades Nuclear Plant

2. Figure 1 - A map of the Palisades Site Layout (see dashed line for the site boundary) from the 2006 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (see Figure 2-3 in ML062710300) cc: Listserv Signed by Barnhurst, Daniel on 06/28/24

ML24163A147 *via E-mail OFFICE PM:REFS/EPM3 PM:REFS/EPM3 LA:REFS/EPM2 PM:REFS/EPM3 NAME MSutherland MRichmond AWalker-Smith LWillingham DATE 6/18/2024 6/19/2024 6/24/2024 6/25/2024 OFFICE BC:REFS/EPM3 BC:REFS/ETR1 OGC BC:REFS/EPM3 NAME DBarnhurst MRome MASpencer* DBarnhurst DATE 6/25/2024 6/25/2024 6/28/2024 6/28/2024

Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC, Submittals to Reauthorize Power Operations at the Palisades Nuclear Plant

Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC ADAMS1 NRC Acceptance Submittal Accession No. Letter ADAMS Accession No.

Request for Exemption from Certain Termination of License Requirements of 10 CFR 50.82, dated ML23271A140 ML23291A440 September 28, 2023.

Application for Order Consenting to Transfer of Control of License and Conforming License ML23340A161 ML24012A242 Amendments, dated December 6, 2023.

Request to Revise Operating License and Technical Specifications to Support Resumption ML23348A148 ML24022A117 of Power Operations, dated December 14, 2023.

Request to Revise the Administrative Technical Specifications to Support Resumption of Power ML24040A089 ML24060A221 Operations, dated February 9, 2024.

Request to Reinstate the Palisades Emergency Plan to Support Resumption of Power ML24122C666 ML24141A119 Operations, dated May 1, 2024.

Request to Revise the Main Steam Line Break Methodology for Palisades Nuclear Plant to ML24145A145 ML24169A434 Support Resumption of Power Operations, dated May 24, 2024.

1 Publicly available documents can be found online in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select Begin Web-based ADAMS Search. For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov.

Enclosure 1 Figure 1 - A map of the Palisades Site Layout (see dashed line for the site boundary) from the 2006 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (see Figure 2-3 in ML062710300)

Enclosure 2