Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have formally determined there would be no significant environmental impact in a 20-year renewal of the Department of Energy’s license for storage of radioactive waste from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory.
The agency is expected to formally post the final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) no later than next week in the Federal Register, an NRC spokesman said by email Tuesday. Staff will make its final decision on the DOE license renewal application after completing a safety evaluation report.
The above-ground dry-storage pad at the DOE facility holds 341 canisters of spent fuel core debris left by the 1979 partial meltdown of reactor Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pa. The prior NRC storage license was good through March 19, 2019, and the Energy Department is seeking renewal through March 19, 2039.
The Energy Department has said it will not store any more radioactive waste on the independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). It is also committed to shipping the material out of Idaho by 2035 under a 1995 waste management settlement agreement with the state and U.S. Navy.
“Based on its review of the proposed action … NRC staff has determined that renewal of NRC License SNM-2508, authorizing continued operation of DOE-ID’s TMI-2 ISFSI for a period of 20 years, would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment,” the environmental assessment says.
Agency staff noted that DOE does not propose to revise its management or storage of the spent fuel, or to update operation of the facility itself. No additional building or expansion of the storage pad is anticipated under the renewed license.
Ongoing operations should not produce any “significant radiological or nonradiological impacts,” and dose estimates for workers and the public are projected to be within or under limits set in federal regulations, the report says.
In February, Idaho’s Department of Environmental Quality said it had no objection to the then-draft finding of no significant environmental impact from the NRC.
