By John Stang
Holtec International and Exelon are urging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject requests from Lacey Township, N.J., and the Sierra Club for intervention and public hearings on the proposed transfer of the federal operations license for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station.
The 49-year-old Oyster Creek boiling-water reactor ended operations on Sept. 17. Exelon wants to sell the plant to Holtec for decommissioning, which requires the OK of the federal nuclear industry regulator. The companies submitted their license transfer application on Aug. 31 and hope for an NRC decision by May 1, 2019.
Three entities filed motions for hearings and intervention in the license proceeding: Lacey Township, where the plant is located; the Concerned Citizens of Lacey Coalition; and the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club. Theire concerns included the viability of the fund that would pay for decommissioning the facility and corruption allegations against the Canadian company that would play a key role in the project.
The Concerned Citizens petition missed an NRC deadline to be considered.
In responses filed on Nov. 26 and Dec. 3, Holtec and Exelon argued that Lacey Township’s petition is too vague, without enough information to justify a hearing, and that the Sierra Club has not proven it has legal standing to intervene.
The two companies cited a number of additional causes for opposing the motions, including that Lacey Township and the Sierra Club did not follow the approved NRC format for such requests.
They said the two petitioners used the wrong figure to argue Oyster Creek’s decommissioning trust fund did not appear to be on track to grow sufficiently to finish that work. The Sierra Club and Lacey Township said decommissioning could cost $1.4 billion, and there was $945 million in the decommissioning trust fund as of July.
Holtec and Exelon wrote that the $1.4 billion estimate applies to the power company’s original plans to put the reactor into safe-storage mode for decades before wrapping up decommissioning in 2080. The Holtec approach would cost $885 million, with completion in 2027, meaning there is already enough money to finish the project, the two corporations argued.
The various legal troubles plaguing SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based engineering giant that will partner with Holtec on decommissioning, are irrelevant because they do not apply to the Oyster Creek project, Holtec and Exelon said.
The two intervention requests will be sent to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, the quasi-judicial arm of the NRC.
Meanwhile, the NRC has reopened the comment period for the Oyster Creek license transfer application.
The initial comment period ended on Nov. 16. But in response to a request, the NRC is extending it through Jan. 9 to give the public additional time to provide input. “The period to request a hearing and petition for leave to intervene is not being reopened, John Lamb, a senior project manager in the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, wrote to Bryan Henson, senior vice president at Exelon Generation.
Comments can be submitted at www.regulations.gov, Docket ID NRC-2018-0237; or by mail to May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC, 20555-0001.
