ML25027A342

Applicant Letter-Issuance of Draft EA and Draft FONSI

ML25027A342
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	01/29/2025
From:	Richmond M NRC/NMSS/DREFS/EPMB3
To:	Fleming J Holtec
References
EPID L-2024-LNE-0003
Download: ML25027A342 (1)

Text

Jean A. Fleming Vice President, Licensing, Regulatory Affairs, and Probabilistic Safety Analysis Holtec International, LLC Krishna P. Singh Technology Campus 1 Holtec Boulevard Camden, NJ 08104

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 Jean Flemming:

In a letter dated June 27, 2024, (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML24155A026), 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 your company, Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC, that, if approved, would collectively support reauthorizing power operations at the 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 (NEPA), and for Section 106 consultation under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (NHPA), with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) serving as a cooperating agency on the environmental review and Section 106 consultation. 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 assistance (a loan guarantee) to support 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 (FRN) was published on January 31, 2025, and is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/. The draft EA and draft FONSI are also available on the NRCs website at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/pali.html#pali-1.

The draft EA describes the environmental review conducted by the NRC and DOE LPO staff for the proposed actions associated with the potential reauthorization of power operations at Palisades through March 24, 2031, the end of the current operating license term. The draft January 29, 2025

J. Flemming conclusion in the draft EA is that the environmental impacts of the proposed actions would be not significant for any potentially affected resource area and would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment.

The NRC is conducting a 30-day comment period on the draft EA and draft finding of no significant impact, 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, 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 Environmental Project Manager, Mary Richmond, by phone at 301-415-7218 or via email at Mary.Richmond@nrc.gov, or Environmental Project Manager, Laura Willingham, by phone at 301-415-0857 or via email at Laura.Willingham@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, Mary C. Richmond, Environmental Project Manager Environmental Project Management Branch 3 Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Docket No. 50-0255 cc: GovDelivery Signed by Richmond, Mary on 01/29/25

ML25027A342

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

DBarnhurst DATE 1/29/2025 1/29/2025 1/29/2025 1/29/2025 1/29/2025 OFFICE PM:REFS/EPM3 NAME MRichmond DATE 1/29/2025