Constellation Energy can use funds set aside for decommissioning a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant to cover site management expenses after the plant is dismantled, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week.
The NRC on June 8 allowed Constellation to dip into a decommissioning trust fund for Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station’s Unit 1 reactor (TMI-1) for spent fuel management and site remediation activities. The agency published the decision in a Federal Register notice Wednesday.
Constellation, the Exelon spin-off that now owns TMI-1, asked NRC May 20 for a regulatory exemption to use the plant’s trust fund for such purposes. The utility also asked permission to ignore regulations requiring it to notify the commission 30 days in advance before taking money from the trust fund.
NRC last week published a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) document for the proposed exemption. Allowing Constellation to spend trust fund cash on spent fuel management and site restoration projects would cause no major environmental or safety problems, the agency said.
TMI-1 went offline in September 2019. The Harrisburg, Pa., plant’s spent fuel inventory should be completely moved to dry storage this summer, NRC has projected. Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 reactor, which shuttered in 1979 following a partial meltdown, is currently being decommissioned by nuclear services company EnergySolutions.
Meanwhile, NRC has already granted similar exemptions to other nuclear plant operators looking to use site funds for non-decommissioning activities. In November, the agency exempted Holtec International from trust fund restrictions at Michigan’s Palisades Nuclear
