Sale of Three Mile Island expected to go through
Federal regulators plan to approve the sale of Three Mile Island’s Unit 2, the nuclear reactor that partially melted down in 1979, despite concern by state officials over the new owner’s ability to pay for decommissioning.
The proposal is expected to receive final approval Wednesday without a public hearing on the matter, according to a notice the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent the various parties.
FirstEnergy, TMI-2’s current owner, estimated in March that it would cost $1.4 billion to dismantle the plant versus the $900 million it set aside for the decadeslong process. In 2019, First Energy asked the NRC to transfer its license — along with ratepayer-funded money set aside from decommissioning — to the Utah-based EnergySolutions.
The global nuclear downturn has increasingly led energy companies to shutter their reactors, including Exelon’s decision to mothball Three Mile Island Unit 1. That, in turn, resulted in an opening for companies like EnergySolutions to make money off the clean up of old nuclear sites.
Earlier this year, state Environmental Secretary Patrick McDonnell raised a number of concerns about the transfer, including the question of whether EnergySolutions would have enough money for the cleanup.
In August, however, the state Department of Environmental Protection reached a settlement with FirstEnergy that called for the creation of a decommissioning advisory panel but did not include any financial guarantees or other safeguards like the ones included in similar agreements in California and Massachusetts.
The agency now appears to have second thoughts, at least according to the NRC notice dated Nov. 23.
Pennsylvania’s NRC liaison, who was not named in the filing but is David Allard, told federal regulators that the state “has no legal objections to granting the [sale] but is still concerned about the adequacy of financial resources to complete the radiological decommissioning of TMI-2.”
DEP spokesman Neil Shader said the agency’s ongoing concerns specifically center around conditions inside the reactor. In essence: If they’re worse than FirstEnergy described in its 2019 proposal, the cleanup could cost significantly more than $1.4 billion.
“Ultimately, the NRC has jurisdiction over the site,” Shader said, “but DEP wanted it noted and wanted the ability to conduct independent radiological [studies].”
DEP’s settlement with FirstEnergy, while not addressing decommissioning costs, does give the agency access to the site to take radiation measurements and collect samples.
Nuclear watchdog Eric Epstein, who unlike the DEP is still actively contesting the sale, said the DEP was notified of the NRC’s decision weeks before he was. According to the NRC filing, the NRC informed the state agency on Oct. 8. Epstein said he was told a week ago.
“DEP is saying, ‘Go ahead but, oh, by the way, we still have concerns’,” Epstein said. “If that’s the case, why did you sign a settlement? You’re either in or you’re out.”
Both DEP and Epstein had requested a public hearing on the matter.
Although Epstein’s request is still pending, the NRC filing dismisses the possibility wholesale: “The hearing, if granted, will not be completed prior to the approval of the license transfer application.”
And there’s a lot at stake. Nuclear decommissioning is a decadeslong process that can run into the billions of dollars. The time scale involved means that companies can change hands multiple times, making it difficult for government regulators to hold anyone to account for a failed cleanup or illegal activity.
Epstein and many other activists worry the transfer to an out-of-state company without much of a track record could leave taxpayers even more vulnerable if the plan falters.
Ratepayers already helped fund a portion of the $900 decommissioning trust fund that FirstEnergy will transfer to EnergySolutions.
“Three Mile Island has befuddled cleanup experts for over four decades,” he said, “and this is the wrong time to take a legal shortcut.”
At very least, Epstein plans to appeal the NRC’s license transfer approval.
From there, he faces a difficult question: Is it worthwhile to spend the time and money to pursue the matter in federal court? His end goal, regardless of the means, is the removal of all radioactive waste from the site.