ML19059A444

Letter from Commission Secretary Annette Vietti-Cook to Senator Vinny Demacedo, Et Al

ML19059A444
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	02/28/2019
From:	Annette Vietti-Cook NRC/SECY
To:	DeMacedo V State of MA
SECY RAS
References
50-293, 72-1044 LT, License Transfer, RAS 54827
Download: ML19059A444 (7)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 SECRETAR Y The Honorable Vinny deMacedo The General Court of Massachusetts State House Boston, MA 02133-1053

Dear Senator deMacedo:

February 28, 2019 On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter of January 22, 2019, to Chairman Svinicki regarding your recent meeting with officials representing the NRC about the Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim) in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as it pertains to the pending license transfer of the plant and the upcoming decommissioning process. Your letter requests information pertinent to these matters. The NRC is reviewing an application filed by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (ENOI) received on November 16, 2018. The application seeks NRC approval of the direct and indirect transfers of Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-35 for Pilgrim as well as the general license for Pilgrim Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, collectively the Licenses.

ENOI on behalf of itself and Entergy Nuclear Generation Company, Holtec International (Holtec), and Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI) requests that the NRC consent to (1) the indirect transfer of control of the Licenses to Holtec; and (2) the direct transfer of ENO l's operating authority to HDI. The NRC is also considering amending the renewed facility operating license for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer.

On February 20, 2019, the NRC received requests to intervene and for a hearing on the license transfer/amendment application of the Pilgrim plant. Because this application for the Pilgrim Station is now the subject of a current adjudication, the Commission must remain impartial during the pendency of the proceeding.

Due to the nature of the Commission's adjudicatory role, I trust that you will understand that it would be inappropriate at this time for the Chairman to discuss or comment on issues involved in this matter. A copy of your letter and this response will be served on the participants in the Pilgrim license transfer/amendment proceeding. Sincerely, cc: See attached list cc: Pilgrim Service List Senator Julian Cyr Senator Patrick O'Connor Representative Kathleen LaNatra Representative Joan Meschino Representative Mathew Muratore Representative William Crocker Representative Sarah Peake Representative Josh Cutler Representative David Vieira Representative Dylan Fernandes Representative Timothy Whelan 2 January 22, 2019 THE GENERAL COUR T OF MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE. BOSTON 02133-1053 The Honorable Kristine L. Svinicki, Chair Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mail Stop 0-16G4 Washington , DC 20555-0001

Dear Chairman Svinicki:

We, a bipartisan group of federal, state and local elected officials representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, are writing in response to our recent meeting with officials representing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) about the Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim) in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

We appreciated the opportunity to sit down and discuss our concerns with the NRC but due to the constraints of time we were left with concerns about the pending license transfer for Pilgrim and the upcoming decommissioning process. We understand that decommissioning is an expensive process and thus have concerns that the Nuclear Decommissioning Trust Fund (NDT) for Pilgrim may not be able to adequately fund both short term and long term decommissioning requirements.

The PSDAR indicates that as of October 31, 2018 the NDT has a balance of $1.05 billion while simultaneously estimating that the actual cost projected in 2018 dollars will be approximately

$1.134 billion. Based upon these figures, we are concerned that there are currently insufficient funds to complete decommissioning even assuming relatively low cost ove r runs and stable performance of the stock market One of the NRC representatives at our recent meeting e x plained that the level of funding necessary is based on a formula which includes a 2% level of anticipated growth throughout the life of decommissioning, which he explained would more than adequately fund all necessary expenses. We would like to have more detailed information on this formuia and the actual cost of the various elements of decommissioning. We would also like to have an idea of the timeline of the process and the assurance that there is enough time for the NOT to increase to the level of funding needed during the process. As was discussed during the meeting, the decommissioning process can.move from SAFSTORto DECON at various times during the process. We the r efore ask you to include how and when levels of funding would fluctuate during these periods as well as what particular events would precipitate the process moving from SAFSTOR to DECON and the reverse.

• A second and equally important concern we have is the ability to hold the licensee responsibie for any costs in the decomm i ssioning process if for any reason the NOT is not fully able to cover these costs. We ask that you cite the regulations which would hold the licensee responsible and that you provide legal citations which would also hold the licensee responsible.

In addition, because there has been no decommissioning undertaken with a transfer oflicense, we would like to better understand how the process and regulations differ, if at all, should the NRC approve the transfer oflicense from Entergy to HOLTEC. As was mentioned by several legislators, both State and Federal, during the meeting, there is serious concern about the ability of HOLTEC as an LLC to step away from providing their own funding !:hould a shortfall in the NDT develop, leaving the community and the Commonwealth with an unfinished decommissioning and no accountable organization for its completion and funding. Lastly, we have questions about site restoration as a component of the decommissioning process. It was stated during the meeting that site restoration is not part of the NRC requirement for a complete decommissioning.

Until January 15, we had been under the impression that it was part of completing the process. NRC's own materials state that a licensee cannot terminate the license until site restoration is complete.

To further confuse the issue, an NRC representative said that Holtec's request for approval for the transfer oflicense included a $40M commitment to site restoration.

We would like clarity on whether or not this is enforceable if it is part of the agreement the NRC approves for transfer of license. We would also ask that you determine whether $40M is an adequate amount of money to actually restore the site. Thank you again for your willingness to work with us on these critical and urgent issues. We look forward to working together in t he best interests of our constituents to ensure that Pilgrim can be decommissioned and the site restored in the most thorough, most safe, and most efficient way possible.

Please do not hesitate to contact should you have any questions.

ec~lly, en~ deMacedo P{y,:~:;h v ~t~a rnstable <i~ Senator Patrick O'Connor -P i u;h and Norfolk a:::.: ntativ f:!.£tler 6th P{ymouth District 1 1!!::,tt{ Ca~~ Representative William Crocker 2nd Barnstable District --entat1ve Dylan Fernandes table, Dukes, and Nantucket District Representative Kathleen LaNatra 12th Plymouth District epr.s~ w ur lst 7;;;;~ Representative David Vieira 3rc1 Barnstable District d-. .. 1!:: Meschino I ;r~~~ymouth District ----.p~~!i~ 4th Barnstable District Representativ Timothy Whelan 1st Barnstable District UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of

) ) ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATINS, INC. ) Docket No s. 50-293 and 72-1044 LT ) (Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

) CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby cert ify that copies of the foregoing Letter from Commission Secretary Annette Vietti

-Cook to Senator Vinny deMacedo, et al. have been served upon the following persons by Electronic Information Exchange. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication Mail Stop: O

-16B33 Washington, DC 20555

-0001 E-mail: ocaamail@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 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555

-0001 E. Roy Hawkens, Chairman E-mail: Roy.Hawkens@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the General Counsel Mail Stop - O-14A44 Washington, DC 20555

-0001 Tison A. Campbell, Esq. Kayla J. Gamin, Esq. Anita G. Naber, Esq.

David E. Roth, Esq.

Eric A. Ruesch, Esq.

Rebecca A. Susko, Esq.

Jeremy L. Wachutka E-mail: Tison.Campbell@nrc.gov Kayla.Gamin@nrc.gov Anita.Naber@nrc.gov David.Roth@nrc.gov Eric.Ruesch@nrc.gov Rebecca.Susko@nrc.gov Jeremy.Wachutka@nrc.gov

Entergy Services, Inc.

101 Constitution Ave., NW Suite 200 East Washington, DC 20001 Susan H. Raimo E-mail: sraimo@entergy.com

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Docket Nos. 50-29 3 and 72-1044 LT Letter from Commission Secretary Annette Vietti

-Cook to Senator Vinny deMacedo, et al. 2 Balch & Bingham LLP 1710 Sixth Avenue North Birmingham, AL 35203-2015 Peter R. LeJeune, Esq Alan D. Lovett, Esq, E-mail: plejeune@balch.com alovett@balch.com Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 1200 Seventeenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 David R. Lewis, Esq. E-mail: David.Lewis@pillsburylaw.com Pilgrim Watch F148 Washington Street Duxbury, MA 02332 Mary Lampert, Director E-mail: Mary.Lampert@comcast.net Counsel for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:

Energy and Environmental Bureau Office of the Attorney General One Ashburton Place, 18 th Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02108 Joseph Dorfler, Esq.

Seth Schofield, Esq.

E-mail: Joseph.Dorfler@state.ma.gov Seth.Schofield@mass.gov

[Original signed by Clara Sola

] Office of the Secretary of the Commission Dated at Rockville, Maryland, th is 28 th day of February , 2019