Entergy and Holtec jointly submitted a license transfer application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow Holtec to decommission the Palisades nuclear plant after it shuts down in 2022.
Holtec plans to dismantle, decontaminate and remediate the Palisades plant by 2041, around 40 years before Entergy would be able to decommission it through the 60-year SAFSTOR option.
The two companies submitted the application Dec. 23, according to an Entergy press statement.
The application also seeks approval to transfer Entergy’s license for the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) at the Big Rock Point facility near Charlevoix, Mich. The facility is already decommissioned — the ISFSI is the only remaining component.
Holtec plans to complete the movement of spent nuclear fuel to dry cask storage by 2025 and commence decommissioning work in 2035, which the company said will allow time for the Palisades Nuclear Decommissioning Trust to grow.
In pre-application meetings hosted by the NRC, critics expressed concern that Holtec doesn’t have enough money to decommission the plant. The Palisades Nuclear Decommissioning Trust held a balance of approximately $552 million total as of Dec. 2.
The NRC has already approved License Transfer Applications to Holtec for the shutdown New Jersey-based Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station from Exelon Corporation, for the shutdown Massachusetts-based Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station from Entergy, and the New York-based Indian Point Energy Center from Entergy following shutdown of Indian Point Unit 3, scheduled for April 2021.
Entergy and Holtec agreed to the sale of the Palisades plant in August 2018, a year after Entergy announced plans to close it.
