ML25098A306
| ML25098A306 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades  |
| Issue date: | 04/07/2025 |
| From: | Natreon Jordan Plant Licensing Branch II |
| To: | Blind A - No Known Affiliation |
| Buckberg P | |
| References | |
| EPID L-2024-CRS-0004 | |
| Download: ML25098A306 (2) | |
Text
From:
Natreon Jordan To:
Alan Blind
Subject:
NRC Staff"s 2.206 Screening Determination in Response to Mr. Alan Blind"s Petitions and Supplemental Information Submitted Between 8-17-2024 and 2-16-2025 Date:
Monday, April 7, 2025 4:56:00 PM
Dear Mr. Blind,
I am writing in response to the petitions and supplemental information you submitted between August 17, 2024, and February 16, 2025, pursuant to Section 2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has evaluated your submission in accordance with Management Directive 8.11, Review Process for 10 CFR 2.206 Petitions (MD 8.11) (NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)
Accession No. ML18296A043) to determine whether enforcement-related action is appropriate. In doing so, we note that the circumstances surrounding your petition are somewhat unusual. Most notably, in addition to submitting your concerns under 10 CFR 2.206, you have also simultaneously raised significantly similar concerns both in a hearing request and in a petition for rulemaking (PRM).
The staff has evaluated the issues you raised in the 2.206 process and determined that each one screens out of the 2.206 process, in accordance with the criteria in MD 8.11 Section II.A.2(d). The MD 8.11 review standards help ensure consistency in the agencys resolution of asserted safety or security concerns. Attempting to address your concerns in three different agency processes at once would inappropriately expend agency resources. We wish to be clear, however, that we have carefully considered your 2.206 petition and the regulatory action you advocate to resolve your stated concerns. Taken together, the concerns you raise essentially amount to a challenge to the NRCs regulatory framework for transitioning decommissioning reactors back to operation. However, none of the concerns you present indicate that Holtec is not in compliance with currently applicable decommissioning regulations, nor have you raised any concerns that indicate an existing safety or security issue or non-compliance. Rather, you raise issues that challenge the efficacy of the NRCs potential future actions in granting authority for Palisades to restart. That type of anticipatory challenge would not be resolved by enforcement action against the licensee and is, therefore, not appropriately considered in the 2.206 process. Such requests screen out of the process pursuant to MD 8.11 Section II.A.2(d)(v), Requests That Would Not Reasonably Lead to an Enforcement Action.
A challenge to the NRCs regulatory framework itself is appropriately addressed in the PRM, which you have submitted. These issues screen out of the 2.206 process pursuant to MD 8.11 Section II.A.2(d)(vii), Requests for Rulemaking. A concern with whether a particular licensees various applications for license amendments and authorities to restart and operate the reactor will ultimately meet regulatory requirements is appropriately addressed in the licensing process, in which you are also participating. In addition, as discussed above, because the issues you raised in the ongoing licensing proceeding are essentially challenges to the NRCs process for returning a decommissioning reactor to operation, they would not be resolved by enforcement action and so would screen out of the 2.206 process pursuant to MD 8.11 Section II.A.2(d)(v).
The staff has also evaluated your concerns in accordance with Section II.A.2.(c) of MD 8.11 and concluded that, in reference to each of your 2.206 petition requests, there is no imminent safety concern that warrants immediate action.
Accordingly, your petition screens out of the 2.206 petition process in accordance with MD 8.11 Section II.A.2(d)(v) and (vii). Thank you for bringing these issues to the attention of the NRC. The 2.206 Petition Process exists to identify safety issues at NRC licensed facilities and your efforts are appreciated. For more information on the petition process please see https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/enforcement/petition.html.
Thank You Mr. Blind,
-Nate
Natreon (Nate) Jordan Nuclear Engineer (Project Manager)
Plant Licensing Branch II-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mail Stop O-8B1A Washington, DC 20555 301-415-7410 natreon.jordan@nrc.gov