A coalition of watchdog groups asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a two-month extension on today’s filing deadline for objections to the sale of two nuclear plants in Michigan.
According to a filing provided to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing by nuclear watchdog Beyond Nuclear, the organization — along with watchdog groups Don’t Waste Michigan and Michigan Safe Energy Future — requested that the NRC extend a filing deadline for objections to Holtec International’s application to take over licenses for Michigan’s Palisades Nuclear Generating Station and Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant from Entergy.
If approved by the commission, the deadline would be moved to April 25.
In the filing, the petitioners said “at least 982, and possibly more than 1,000” historical documents had been added to the commission’s public archives since Jan. 12 and that an extension was warranted so that interested parties could review them.
Holtec and Entergy filed a motion Tuesday evening opposing the request. In the filing, the companies argued that the watchdog groups hadn’t given a convincing enough argument to extend the filing deadline.
Beyond Nuclear staff member Kevin Kamps told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing in an email Tuesday that his organization “fully intends to intervene” in the license transfer process. The watchdog groups will file a joint objection, Kamps said.
If the commission denies their motion, the coalition “stands ready” to file their intervention at the current deadline, Kamps said. Regardless, Beyond Nuclear legal counsel Terry Lodge told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing in an email Tuesday that the coalition planned to file “before midnight” on Wednesday if the commission did not respond to their request.
A spokesperson for the commission said that the agency was reviewing the watchdog groups’ request.
Today’s filing deadline was set by the NRC in an agency notice dated Feb. 1 and published Feb. 5. Typically, interested parties have 20 days to lodge their objections to a proposed license transfer after a commission notice. Petitioners have to provide specific contentions to prove to the commission that they have standing to challenge a license transfer.
Kamps previously raised concerns about Holtec’s ability to pay for decommissioning at a pre-application meeting in December.
Entergy and Holtec agreed to the sale of both sites in August 2018, and they submitted their license transfer application in December. If approved, Holtec has said it will begin decommissioning the Palisades plant, located in Covert, Mich., in 2025. The company will also assume ownership of the already-dismantled Big Rock plant’s independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI).
Holtec has said that they would be able to finish decommissioning the Palisades site by 2041.
