The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the companies involved in the sale of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station have a little over three weeks to respond to an environmental group’s request to hold off on the transaction, according to an agency filing.
The NRC, the FirstEnergy companies and the EnergySolutions subsidiary responsible for decommissioning the Harrisburg, Pa. nuclear plant have until April 12 to file responses to Three Mile Island Alert’s (TMIA) request, the March 19 filing said.
The environmental group formally asked the agency March 15 to temporarily block the sale which EnergySolutions and Exelon, the current plant owner, agreed to in 2019.
TMIA argued in last week’s motion that the Three Mile Island license transfer agreement violates a certification rule in section 401 of the 1972 Clean Water Act that would require EnergySolutions to get the go-ahead from interstate authorities to ignore certain water quality standards when decommissioning the plant.
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission and Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection are both investigating whether the environmental group’s claims hold any water.
