The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday denied the state of Vermont’s request for a hearing concerning Entergy’s use of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant’s decommissioning trust fund, ruling that the utility can use money from the account for spent fuel management expenses.
Vermont filed a hearing request in April with the NRC, challenging Entergy’s license amendment request to use $225 million from the trust fund for managing spent nuclear fuel and other expenses. The state considered those expenses, including insurance and property taxes, to be unrelated to decommissioning.
The NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) panel assigned to the matter granted Vermont’s hearing request, but Entergy submitted a motion to withdraw the license request in 2015. The ASLB granted that request, but required Entergy to provide written notice to the NRC and the public for any new license amendment requests related to the decommissioning trust fund, and to specify when there are items that Vermont cited in its hearing request. Entergy has since been providing those notices.
The state appealed that ASLB decision, and Thursday’s ruling dismissed Vermont’s hearing request. Along with signing off on using the decommissioning trust fund for spent fuel expenses, it also will not require Entergy to provide greater detail when submitting notices of withdrawals from the fund, as requested by Vermont. Finally, the commission did not agree that Entergy must perform a National Environmental Policy Act review when submitting decommissioning fund disbursement notices.
The commission did, however, direct staff to conduct an assessment to determine if there are any environmental impacts associated with allowing Entergy to use decommissioning funds for spent fuel management expenses.
“While we are disappointed that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied our request for a hearing, we are glad that they ordered further environmental review of the exemption that Entergy received to use decommissioning trust fund money for other purposes,” Vermont Assistant Attorney General Kyle Landis-Marinello said by email Thursday. “We also appreciate the well-reasoned dissenting opinion of Commissioner (Jeff) Baran, who correctly noted that additional public participation should be required in these circumstances.”
