ML24257A058

Summary of August 1, 2024, Hybrid Public Meeting on the Potential Palisades Nuclear Plant Restart

ML24257A058
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	09/26/2024
From:	Justin Poole Plant Licensing Branch III
To:	Entergy Nuclear Operations
Wall S
References
Download: ML24257A058 (1)

Text

September 26, 2024

LICENSEE: Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC

FACILITIES: Palisades Nuclear Plant

SUMMARY

OF AUGUST 1, 2024, HYBRID PUBLIC MEETING ON THE POTENTIAL PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT RESTART

On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff held a hybrid public meeting to discuss the potential for the Palisades Nuclear Plant (Palisades) restart after permanently ceasing operation and entering decommissioning in May 2022. Several representatives of the NRC staff, Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI), and members of the public participated in person at the Grand Upton Hall at Lake Michigan College, which is located at 2755 East Napier Avenue in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Additional NRC staff and members of the public participated remotely via Microsoft Teams and a teleconference bridgeline.

The meeting purposes were to 1) have HDI present to the NRC Palisades Restart Panel (PRP) the status of current and planned activities occurring at the plant; 2) have the PRP provide an update on licensing reviews and inspection activities; 3) provide members of the public on opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns to the PRP regarding the project. Copies of the PRP charter describing the panels responsibilities, objectives, oversight activities, and planned communications were provided for the in-person meeting attendees and can be found in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Managem ent System (ADAMS) at Accession No. ML23297A053. The meeting notice and agenda dated July 18, 2024, are available at ML24200A204. A list of in person and virtual meeting attendees is provided as an enclosure to this summary. The HDIs and the NRC staffs presentations are summarized below and can be found at ML24212A345 and ML24212A339, respectively.

The HDI presentation included the following topics project timeline and milestones, staffing, funding, current and future projects at the plant, and public outreach. With regard to milestones, HDI talked about having 26 operators pass the licensed operator requalification examinations in May 2024, HDIs development of a transitional quality assurance program to cover the activities being performed as part of restart and planned to implement it during August 2024, and its desire to transition to an operational status in August 2025, with resuming power operations in October 2025. HDI then moved on to discuss staffing levels. HDI stated that they currently had 457 Palisades employees and 350 badged contractors working at the site, with a goal of having approximately 600 full-time employees. During the portion of the presentation regarding funding, HDI stated that decommissioning trust funds were not being used for the restart project. For current and future projects, HDI talked about replacing all reactor head nozzles, all 45 control rod drive seals prior to restart, and installing all 22 remaining National Fire Protection Association -805 modifications prior to restart. In the near-term, HDI said that steam generator and reactor vessel and internal inspections were planned for August and September 2024. HDI also stated that they were finishing up their Generic Safety Issue-191/Generic Letter 2004-02

closure option evaluations and w ould be ready to have a presubmittal meeting with the NRC to discuss their plan in September 2024 (since this meeting, the presubmittal meeting will now occur in October 2024). As for public outreach, HDI mentioned they held a public open house in June and planned to hold another in December 2024.

During the NRC staffs presentation, the staff provided an overview of the PRP and the notice for hearing and comment process, as well as an update on licensing and inspection activities.

The NRC introduced the PRP members and discussed their role in the potential restart process, which includes overseeing regulatory activiti es, management of NRC oversight and inspections, identification and resolution of issues, and appropriate communication with all stakeholders.

With regard to an update on licensing activities, the NRC staff stated that all expected licensing actions needed to support restart have been submitted by the licensee and accepted for review.

This has allowed the NRC staff to begin its deta iled technical review and the environmental review. In addition, having all of the applications submitted and accepted for review has allowed the staff to issue its notice of opportunity for hearing and comment in the Federal Register for the license transfer and license amendment requests. The staff also went on to explain the specific timing requirements for each day hearing and 30-day comment opportunity for the transfer and 60-day hearing and 30-day comment opportunity for the amendments - all started on the publication date of August 7, 2024, in the Federal Register. With regard to an update on inspection activities, the NRC staff highlighted performing inspections on the licensees primary system flush and relicensing of operators, as well as plans to inspect upcoming activities such as the vessel and steam generator inspections. The staff also mentioned that inspection reports are planned to be issued quarterly to the public and that the onsite resident inspector office would be staffed by the end of 2024.

Following the presentations, the NRC provided time for comments from several representatives of State and local governments. After the electe d officials, the NRC provided time for members of the public to make comments or ask questions of the staff. The NRC staff addressed several questions during the question-and-answer session of the meeting.

There were several comments in favor of moving forward with the Palisades restart activities because individuals believed that the plant was safe when shutdown and the NRC will assure safety related to the resumption of power operations. Several commenters also stated that restart is vital to the local counties and State of Michigan, that there are long-term benefits (tax revenue and job growth) related to the resumption of power operations, that restart would support the States carbon free goals, and that it is believed to be safe and reliable energy.

Other comments were against moving forward with the Palisades restart activities. These individuals expressed concerns regarding the disposition of nuclear waste, the age of the plant and its systems, structures, and components, historic and more recent equipment issues (e.g.,

reactor vessel aging, control rod drive seal leaks), the impacts of restarting Palisades on the environment, and the cost of potential repair and replacement activities. Several comments were also received related to using public funds on the Palisades restart project that could be spent on other energy sources, appropriate use of the decommissioning trust fund during the restart project, and Holtec Internationals lack of experience as a plant operator.

The NRC received a Public Meeting Feedback Form with no comments.

Please direct any inquiries to me at 301-415-2048, or via email at Justin.Poole@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Justin C. Poole, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch III Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Docket No. 50-255

Enclosure:

List of Attendees

cc: Listserv List of Attendees August 1, 2024, Public Outreach Meeting for the Potential Palisades Nuclear Plant Restart

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Jamie Pelton, Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR)/Division of Operating Reactor Licensing (DORL)

Justin Poole, NRR, DORL, Plant Licensing Branch III (LPL3)

Jeff Whited, Branch Chief, NRR, DORL/LPL3 Ngola Otto, Project Manager, NRR, DORL, Licensing Projects Branch Philip McKenna, Deputy Director, NRR, Division of Reactor Oversight (DRO)

Jason Kozal, Director, RIII, Division of Operating Reactor Safety (DORS)

April Nguyen, Team Leader, Region III, DORS, Palisades Restart Team (PRT)

Julie Winslow, Senior Project Engineer, RIII, DORS, PRT Jessica Hammock, Project Manager, Division of New and Renewal Licenses, License Renewal Projects Branch Dori Willis, Office of Enforcement (OE), Allegations Team (AT)

Carleen Parker, OE, AT Marlayna Doell, Project Manager, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS), Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs (DUWP),

Reactor Decommissioning Branch (RDB)

John Moses, Deputy Director, NMSS, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support (REFS)

Laura Willingham, Environmental Project M anager, NMSS, REFS, Environmental Review New Reactors Branch (ENRB)

Mary Richmond, Environmental Project Manager, REFS, ENRB Jessica Moses-Arnone, Financial Analyst, NMSS, REFS, Financial Assessment Branch (FAB)

Richard Turtil, Senior Financial Analyst, NMSS, REFS, FAB Lynnea Wilkins, Intergovernment al Liaison Project Manager, NMSS Michael Waters, Deputy Division Director, Office of Nuclear Security, and Incident Response (NSIR), Division of Preparedness and Response (DPR)

Jessie Quichocho, Branch Chief, NSIR, DPR, Reactor Licensing Branch (RLB)

Michael Norris, Senior Emergency Preparedness Specialist, NSIR, DPR, RLB Keith Miller, Emergency Preparedness Specialist, NSIR, DPR, RLB Jeffrey Herrera, Emergency Preparedness Specialist, NSIR, DPR, RLB Charles Murray, Emergency Preparedness Specialist, NSIR, DPR, Policy, and Oversight Branch Doug Garner, Security Specialist, NSIR, Division of Physical and Cyber Security (DPCP),

Materials Security Branch Stephen Sarver, NSIR, DPCP, Reactor Physical Protection Branch David Roth, Deputy Assistant General C ounsel, Office of General Counsel (OGC)

Michael Spencer, Senior Attorney, OGC Brett Klukan, Regional Counsel, RI David Hills, Branch Chief, Region III, Division of Radiological Safety and Security (DRSS),

ISFSI and Health Physics Branch Allan Barker, Regional Governmental Liaison Officer, Region III Harral Logaras, Regional Governmental Liaison Specialist, Region III

Enclosure

Viktoria Mitlyng, Office of Public Affairs, Region III Kent Howard, Senior Staff Engineer, Office of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safety Tony Nakanishi, Technical Assistant, Office of the Chairman Gehan Flanders, Intergovernmental Liai son Project Manager, NMSS, MSST, TRT Todd Keene, Technical Assistant, Office of the Executive Director of Operations Mitchell Hoskins, Congressional Affairs Officer, Office of Congressional Affairs Richard Guzman, Senior Project Manager, NRR, DORL/LPL1 Gordon Curran, Safety and Plant Systems Engineer, NRR, Division of Safety Systems, Containment and Plant Systems Branch Elise Eve, Decommissioning Team Leader, Region I Katherine Warner, Senior Health Physicist, Region I Gianna Porro, Health Physicist, Region III Cyler Conrad, PNNL

Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (Holtec)

Gregory Baustin Jeff Borah Rich Burroni Nick Culp Val Gent Justin Hawkins Joe Jerz James P. Miksa Mike Mlynarek Tiffany Rydwelski Michael Schultheis Lyn Summer Steve Vonk

Members of the Public Kaila Akina Terry Alsterda Kyle Amberge Mike Annon Joni Arends, CCNS Delores Atkins Scott Aughney Kathy Barnes Carl Bebrich, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Jana Bergman, Curtis Wright Zachary Betsill Barry Biondic Alan Blind Chris Bodner Jan Boudart Tim Boyko Charles Brand, Palisades Park Bey Brand

John Brenneman Annie Brown, Mayor of South Haven Meredith Burgess Terry Burns Trevor Carlson, Prairie Real Estate Group Mike Chappell Narcedalia Chavez Chin Cheung, Department of Energy (DOE)

Casey Clark Colleen Coffey Shawn Connors Diane DArrigo, NIRS Bruce Davis Daryl Davis Barbara Dotson, Energy Solutions Lichao Du Lance Eilerm Ken Erwin, DOE Matt Evans, INPO John Faul, Van Buren County Commissioner Bruce Fetzer Darby Fetzer David Flaherty Bret Flesner Tom Flynn, Covert Township Jody Flynn Kenneth L. Fossum, Idaho National Lab (INL)

James Fornof Todd Gemskie, DHS/FEMA Colin Gold Veena Gubbi, DEP Brian Gutherman Tom Henry Ray Hochsprung Kate Hosier, City of South Haven, City Manager Philip Hult Jaclyn Mike Johnaton, Michigan Manufacturers Association Joshua Jones, MPR Associates Mary Judnich, regional manager, Office of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear KT Michael Keegan Connie Kline David Kraft, Director of the Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS)

Dennis Krotzen Edward Lawlor Joel Linden, Sargent & Lundy

Rebecca Lowy Tracy Luo, TECRO Masato Danny McCray Katrina McMurrian, Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC)

Sally McWhirter Eric Meyer, Generation Atomic MG Agnieszka Modrzejewska Dennis Moore, Constellation Nuclear Derrick Moreau Alice Mow Brett N Jan OConnell, Sierra Club Alven Oelke Elena Oelke Tom Palmisano Bill Pedersen, Lummus, Senior Principal Consultant Jennifer Pema, DOE Kevin Petty Bette Pierman, Benton Harbor Iga Pocztarek-Tofil Dillon Reed Matthew Revelle Joshua Rogers Anna S Madison S Richard Schmidt Kraig Schultz, Michigan Safe Energy Future Jim Scott, Palisade Park Country Club David Simonely Laura Silverman Michele Smith Ross Stein, South Haven Township Supervisor Dick Stauffer, Lincoln Township, Supervisor Wally Taylor Brittany Theis Mark Tonacci Kyle Trotter Don W.

Jan W.

Joseph Waters Laura Weir, LARA Derek Weldon G. William Kadoya Yutaka 26XXXXXX18 30XXXXXX16

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ML24257A058 NRC-001 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL3/PM NRR/DORL/LPL3/LA RIII/PRT/TL NRR/DORL/LPL3/BC NRR/DORL/LPL3/PM NAME JPoole SRohrer (SLent for) ANguyen JWhited JPoole DATE 09/11/2024 09/13/2024 09/17/2024 09/26/2024 09/26/2024