ML24270A262
| ML24270A262 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades  |
| Issue date: | 09/26/2024 |
| From: | Carrie Safford, Clara Sola NRC/SECY |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Download: ML24270A262 (1) | |
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Docket. Hearing wtaylorlaw@aoLcom; tilodae50@yahoo.com; M. Stanford Blanton; Eskelsen. Grant; alovett@balch com:
OCAAMAIL Resource; RidsOgcMailCenter Resource Docket Hearing Order of the Secretary - Palisades Nuclear Plant - Petition for Declaratory Order Thursday, September 26, 2024 4:14:S6 PM Order of the secretary - Palisades Petition for Declaratory Order pdf High The attached "Order of the Secretary," responds to the "Petition for Declaratory Order" received on September 5, 2024, from Mr. Wallace Taylor on behalf of the following collective petitioners: Beyond Nuclear, Don't Waste Michigan, and Michigan Safe Energy Future, in the matter of the Palisades Nuclear Plant, Docket No. 50-255.
Thank you, Clara (Rica) Sola Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the Secretary Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff Clara. Sota@nrc.gov 301-415-1668
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of HOL TEC DECOMMISSIONING INTERNATIONAL, LLC (Palisades Nuclear Plant)
Docket No. 50-255 ORDER Beyond Nuclear, Don't Waste Michigan, and Michigan Safe Energy Future (collectively, Petitioners) have submitted to the Office of the Secretary a "Petition for Declaratory Order."1 The Petitioners seek clarification regarding a Federal Register notice published by the NRC on August 7, 2024.2 The Hearing Notice announced the opportunity to file a request for a hearing and petition for leave to intervene on four separate license amendment requests submitted by Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC, to support the potential reauthorization of power operations at the Palisades Nuclear Plant.
Specifically, the Petitioners seek a "declaratory order" from the NRC to clarify whether the agency will permit the Petitioners to challenge an exemption request submitted by Holtec in September 20233 in a petition to intervene with respect to Holtec's license amendment 1 Petition for Declaratory Order (Sept. 5, 2024) (ADAMS Accession No. ML24250A100)
(Petition).
2 89 Fed. Reg. 64,486 (Aug. 7, 2024) (Hearing Notice).
3 Letter from Jean A. Fleming, Vice President, Licensing, Regulatory Affairs & PSA, Holtec International, to NRC Document Control Desk (Sept. 28, 2023) (ML23271A140) (Exemption Request).
requests. 4 The Petitioners cite to 5 U.S.C. § 554(e), which authorizes an agency, "in its sound discretion," to issue a declaratory order "to terminate a controversy or remove uncertainty."
Holtec has filed a response opposing the Petition.5 While this is not a "declaratory order" within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. § 554(e), I hereby provide clarification to the Petitioners on this question.
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The Petition is based on two assertedly conflicting statements concerning the availability of an opportunity for a hearing on an exemption request.6 First, in December 2023, the Petitioners sought to intervene and request a hearing on the Exemption Request, in which Holtec seeks exemption from certain portions of 10 C.F.R. § 50.82.7 I denied the intervention petition, explaining that the Exemption Request-in the absence of any licensing action creating an opportunity for a hearing under the Atomic Energy Act-did not itself create any such hearing opportunity. 8 I further explained that, under established Commission practice, "when an exemption request is inextricably intertwined with a licensing action triggering the opportunity to request a hearing, the hearing may encompass the exemption request as well,"9 and that the Petitioners would have an opportunity to petition to intervene and request a hearing in 4 Petition at 11-13.
5 Response to Beyond Nuclear et al. 's Petition for Declaratory Order (Sept. 24, 2024)
(ML24269A017).
6 Petition at 13.
7 Petition to Intervene and Request for Adjudicatory Hearing by Beyond Nuclear, Don't Waste Michigan, and Michigan Safe Energy Future (Dec. 5, 2023) (ML23339A192).
8 Order of the Secretary, at 2 (Dec. 18, 2023) (ML23352A325) (citing 42 U.S.C.
§ 2239(a)(1 )(A)).
9 Id. (citing Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
(Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station), CLl-16-12, 83 NRC 542, 553 (2016); Honeywell International, Inc. (Metropolis Works Uranium Conversion Facility), CLl-13-1, 77 NRC 1, 10 (2013); Private Fuel Storage, L.L.C. (Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation), CLl-01-12, 53 NRC 459, 470 (2001)).
connection with an identified license amendment request and license transfer application, as well as future requests for license amendments and license transfers concerning Palisades.10 Second, and more recently, in the "Background" section of the Hearing Notice, the NRC identified each request it had received from Holtec to support Palisades's potential return to power operations. In addition to the license amendment requests that were the subject of the Hearing Notice, the NRC also identified the Exemption Request, as well as a separate license transfer request published elsewhere in the Federal Register. With respect to the Exemption Request, the Hearing Notice stated that, "[c]onsistent with the [Atomic Energy Act] and NRC regulations, the NRC is not publishing a notice of opportunity for hearing on the exemption request."11 This statement was intended to explain the absence of a separate Federal Register notice concerning the Exemption Request. The statement does not categorically exclude or predetermine the admissibility of contentions that a petitioner may submit, including contentions relating to an exemption request. 12 The admissibility of such contentions will be determined by the presiding officer to the proceeding, in accordance with 10 C.F.R. § 2.309 and established Commission practice.
10 Id. at 3.
11 See 89 Fed. Reg. at 64,487.
12 See, e.g., Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Palisades Nuclear Plant and Big Rock Point Site), CLl-22-8, 96 NRC 1, 14 (2022) (stating that "when a requested exemption raises questions that are material to a proposed licensing action-directly bears on whether the proposed action should be granted-a petitioner in an adjudicatory proceeding on the licensing action may raise arguments relating to the exemption request").
This order is issued pursuant to my authority under 10 C.F.R. § 2.346G).
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of September 2024.
For the Commission CARRIE Digitally signed by CARRIE SAFFORD SAFFORD Date: 2024.09.26 09:56:52 -04'00' Carrie M. Safford Secretary of the Commission
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of HOL TEC DECOMMISSIONING INTERNATIONAL, LLC (Palisades Nuclear Plant)
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Docket No. 50-255 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing ORDER OF THE SECRETARY have been served upon the following persons by electronic mail.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication Mail Stop: O-16B33 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: ocaamail.resource@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the Secretary of the Commission Mail Stop: O-16B33 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: hearingdocket@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the General Counsel Mail Stop - O-14A44 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: RidsOgcMailCenter.Resource@nrc.gov Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of September 2024.
Wallace L. Taylor 4403 1st Ave. N.E., Suite 402 Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402 E-mail: wtaylorlaw@aol.com Terry J. Lodge 316 N. Michigan St, Suite 520 Toledo, Ohio 43604 E-mail: tjlodge50@yahoo.com Counsel for Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC Balch and Bingham LLP 1710 Sixth Avenue North Birmingham, AL 35203 M. Stanford Blanton, Esq.
Grant Eskelsen, Esq.
Alan D. Lovett, Esq.
E-mail: sblanton@balch.com geskelsen@balch.com alovett@balch.com Digitally signed by CLA' RA SOLA CLARA SOLA Date: 2024.09.26 13:53:36 -04'00' Office of the Secretary of the Commission