ML25007A105

Draft EA S.Hicks Letter

ML25007A105
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	01/31/2025
From:	Rome M NRC/NMSS/DREFS/EPMB3
To:	Susan Hicks US Dept of Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service, Michigan Ecological Services Field Office
Shared Package
ML25007A101	List: ML25007A102 ML25007A103 ML25007A105 ML25007A106
References
EPID L-2024-LNE-003
Download: ML25007A105 (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:

NOTIFICATION OF THE ISSUANCE OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND DRAFT FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT FOR 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:

In a letter dated June 28, 2024, (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML24163A147), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) notified your office that it is conducting an environmental review for a series of licensing and regulatory requests submitted by Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI) that, if approved, would collectively support reauthorizing power operations at Palisades Nuclear Plant (Palisades). These requests are the proposed actions before the NRC and include an exemption request, a license transfer request, and license amendment requests. The NRC is the lead Federal agency for the environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) serving as a cooperating agency. DOE LPOs proposed action, pursuant to its authority under Title 17 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as amended, is consideration of providing Federal financial support (a loan guarantee) to HDI for the resumption of power operations at Palisades.

As part of this review, the NRC and DOE LPO staff have completed a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding of no significant impact (FONSI), Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact for the Palisades Nuclear Plant Reauthorization of Power Operations Project (ADAMS Accession No. ML24353A157). The associated Federal Register notice was published on January 31, 2025, and is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/. The draft EA and draft FONSI is also available on the NRCs website at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/pali.html#pali-1.

Please note that Sections 3.6 and 3.7 of the draft EA contain analyses of terrestrial and aquatic resources and impacts to these resource areas from activities associated with the preparation January 31, 2025

S. Hicks 2

for and resumption of power operations, as well as the NRC and DOE LPOs draft conclusion.

Additionally, Appendix J provides additional overview and supplemental technical information related to the ecology analyses, which provides context to the impact conclusions and includes the biological evaluation of Federally listed species.

The NRC invites your office to submit any comments or concerns on the draft EA and draft FONSI during the 30-day comment period, which ends on March 3, 2025. Comments can be submitted by the following methods:

1.

Emailing PalisadesRestartEnvironmental@nrc.gov; 2.

Going to https://regulations.gov and searching for Docket ID NRC-2024-0076; or 3.

Mailing comments to the Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.

After consideration of public comments received on the draft EA, the NRC and DOE LPO staff will prepare a final EA and final FONSI unless the staff determines that the proposed actions would have a significant impact on the human environment, in which case the staff would proceed to prepare an environmental impact statement. If it is determined that a final EA and final FONSI should be issued, it is expected that they would be published in June 2025.

If you have any questions concerning the NRCs environmental review, please contact Staff Biologist, Peyton Doub, by phone at 301-415-6703 or via email at Peyton.Doub@nrc.gov; or Environmental Project Manager, Mary Richmond, by phone at 301-415-7218 or via email at Mary.Richmond@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, Michelle S. Rome, Chief Environmental Technical Review Branch 1 Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Docket No. 50-0255 cc: GovDelivery Signed by Rome, Michelle on 01/31/25

S. Hicks 3

SUBJECT:

NOTIFICATION OF THE ISSUANCE OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND DRAFT FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT FOR 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)

DATE:

DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC M. A. Spencer, OGC L. Willingham, NMSS A. Ghosh-Naber, OGC M. Richmond, NMSS H. Logaras, RIII W. Burris, NMSS J. Kozal, RIII P. Doub, NMSS C. Wolf, OCA D. Barnhurst, NMSS S. Burnell, HQ/OPA M. Rome, NMSS V. Mitlyng, RIII/OPA T. Smith, NMSS P. Chandrathil, RIII/OPA J. Moses, NMSS C. Conrad, PNNL (cyler.n.conrad@pnnl.gov)

C. Regan, NMSS L. Hare, PNNL (leah.hare@pnnl.gov)

P. Doub, NMSS T. Stribley, DOE (todd.stribley@hq.doe.gov)

J. Poole, NRR A. Williamson, DOE (alicia.williamson@hq.doe.gov)

N. Otto, NRR K. Erwin, DOE (kenneth.erwin@hq.doe.gov)

J. Pelton, NRR I. Berrios, NRR P. McKenna, NRR ADAMS Package Accession No.: ML25007A101; Letter: ML25007A105

• via email OFFICE PM:REFS/EPM3 LA:REFS/EPM3 OGC PM:REFS/EPM3 BC:REFS/EPM3 NAME LWillingham MCampestrin AGhosh*

LWillingham DBarnhurst DATE 1/29/2025 1/29/2025 1/29/2025 1/30/2025 1/30/2025 OFFICE BC:REFS/ETR1 NAME MRome DATE 1/31/2025 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY January 31, 2025