NRC panel to hear arguments on staff environmental review of Palisades restart

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear oral arguments May 15 on a petition by several organizations opposing the staff environmental assessment for restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. 

Joint petitioners Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, Michigan Safe Energy Future, Three Mile Island Alert and Nuclear Energy Information Service were certified for oral argument on April 17 in a Memorandum and Order by the three-judge panel.

The oral arguments will allow ASLB to ask questions regarding challenges from the petitioners to the NRC staff’s environmental assessment (EA) on the Palisades restart. The three administrative judges on the board will hear arguments from Holtec, NRC staff and the petitioning organizations, as stated in a NRC April 24 press release.

The petitioners’ new and amended contentions come in response to the NRC’s draft EA and draft finding of no significant impact from the planned Palisades restart. The NRC announced on Jan. 31 it sought public comment on the draft EA and the petitioners’ new and amended contentions were filed on March 3, which was the deadline for public comments.

The oral argument proceeding will be held on a webinar on May 15 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

The Palisades plant was originally operated by Entergy but was shut down in May 2022. Holtec purchased the Palisades plant the following month, with the original intention of decommissioning it. In September 2022, Holtec pivoted to plans to restart the nuclear plant instead of decommissioning it.