The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has tentatively determined there would be no environmental impact from renewing the license for a storage pad for waste from reactor Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
The Department of Energy has requested a 20-year renewal of the license for the independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) at the Idaho National Laboratory. The current license is due to expire on March 19, 2019.
The ISFSI stores 341 canisters of spent nuclear fuel core debris from the reactor’s infamous partial meltdown in March 1979. The Energy Department has committed to removing the material from the state by Jan. 1, 2035, but in the meantime needs the license renewal – which it says will not involve importing more waste or increasing the size of the storage pad.
On Sept. 21, the NRC submitted a preliminary version of its environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the license renewal to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. It gave the state agency 30 days to submit any comments on the document.
“The draft EA preliminarily determines that the renewal would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment and that preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required for the proposed action,” NRC staff said in a statement. “After considering any comments from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the NRC staff will finalize the EA and FONSI. At this time, the NRC staff expects to issue the final EA and FONSI in the spring of 2019.”
The draft document is “pre-decisional” and so is not being made public, staff said.
The Department of Environmental Quality is still reviewing the DOE report and has not determined whether it will submit comments, Mark Clough, the state agency’s Idaho National Laboratory settlement agreement coordinator, told RadWaste Monitor. Any input would be submitted within the 30-day window, he said.
Reactor Unit 1 at Three Mile Island remains operational, but owner Exelon plans to close the plant in 2019.
