2024-12129. TMI-2SOLUTIONS, LLC.; Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit No. 2; Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of availability; request for comment; issuance of programmatic agreement.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC Possession Only License (POL) No. DPR-73 for the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit No. 2 (TMI-2), located in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The proposed amendment would ensure that TMI-2 Energy Solutions (TMI-2 Solutions) can continue decommissioning the facility in accordance with NRC regulations. TMI-2 Solutions will be engaging in certain major decommissioning activities, including the physical demolition of buildings previously deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The draft EA, “Environmental Assessment for Specific Decommissioning Activities at Three Mile Island, Unit 2 in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania,” documents the NRC staff's environmental review of the license amendment application. The NRC is also issuing a final Programmatic Agreement (PA) under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

DATES:

Submit comments on the draft EA by July 5, 2024. Comments received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments by any of the following methods; however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website:

• Federal rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0099. Address questions about Docket IDs to Stacy Schumann; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
• Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
• Email comments to: [e-mail].

For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting comments, see “Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments” in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0099 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this action. You may obtain publicly available information related to this action by the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0099.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. To begin the search, select “Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.” For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at 301-415-4737, or by email to [e-mail]. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this document.
• NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to [e-mail] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
• NRC's Public Project Website: Information related to the TMI-2 project can be accessed on NRC's TMI-2 public website at https://www.nrc.gov/​info-finder/​decommissioning/​power-reactor/​three-mile-island-unit-2.html, under the section titled “2.0 Site Status Summary,” scroll down to “Environmental Review of Cultural and Historic Resource Impacts from Decommissioning Activities” and click on Environmental Assessment (EA), Draft Report for Comment.

B. Submitting Comments

The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website ( https://www.regulations.gov). Please include Docket ID NRC-2024-0099 in the subject line of your comment submission.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information.

If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Background

The Three Mile Island Nuclear Station (TMINS) is approximately 16 kilometers (10 miles) southeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The TMINS site includes Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (TMl-1) and TMl-2. It encompasses approximately 178 hectares (440 acres), including the adjacent islands on the north end, a strip of land on the mainland along the eastern shore of the river, and an area on the eastern shore of Shelley Island. The TMINS site has significance in U.S. history because it is the site of the nation's most serious commercial nuclear power plant accident, occurring at TMI-2. On March 28, 1979, TMI-2 experienced an accident initiated by interruption of secondary feedwater flow which led to a core heat up that caused fuel damage. The partial meltdown of the reactor core led to a very small offsite release of radioactivity. In response to this accident many changes occurred at nuclear power plants including emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and heightened NRC regulatory oversight.

III. Introduction

By letter dated February 22, 2023 (ADAMS Accession No. ML23058A064), TMI-2 Solutions requested an amendment to POL No. DPR-73. TMI-2 Solutions will be engaging in certain major decommissioning activities, including the physical demolition of buildings previously deemed eligible for the NRHP. Because the impacts on the historic properties from these decommissioning activities have not been previously evaluated and are not bounded by the impact's discussion in NUREG-0586, “Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities,” TMI-2 Solutions requested an amendment that would require evaluation of the impacts of the decommissioning activities on the NRHP-eligible properties, in compliance with paragraph 50.82(a)(6)(ii) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR).

Pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8, the NRC is using its National Environmental Policy Act process for developing the environmental assessment (EA) to facilitate consultation pursuant to section 106 of the NHPA.

Adverse effects to historic properties would result from decommissioning activities at TMI-2. Therefore, the NRC and consulting parties proceeded with development of a PA to resolve adverse effects. On March 6, 2024 (89 FR 16037) the draft PA was issued for public review and comment. One comment was received and considered before finalizing the PA. The final PA (ADAMS Accession No. ML24117A258) addresses the potential direct and indirect adverse effects from the decommissioning activities and ensures that appropriate mitigation measures are implemented. The NRC is issuing the final PA, which therefore, concludes NHPA Section 106 consultation.

In accordance with NRC's regulations in 10 CFR part 51, “Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,” that implement the National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA), the NRC staff has prepared a draft EA documenting its environmental review of the license amendment application. Based on the environmental review, the NRC has made a preliminary determination that the proposed action will not significantly affect the quality of the human environment and that a FONSI is therefore appropriate. By this notice, the NRC is requesting public comment on the draft FONSI and supporting draft EA.

IV. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment

The draft EA is publicly available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML24117A224. A summary description of the proposed action and expected environmental impacts is provided as follows.

Description of the Proposed Action

The proposed action is to amend POL No. DPR-73 so that TMI-2 Solutions can continue with certain major decommissioning activities planned under Phase 2 of its decommissioning schedule. Phase 2 decommissioning activities include the removal of any radioactive components in preparation for demolition of structures, decommissioning and dismantlement of the TMI-2 site to a level that permits the release of the site, except for an area potentially to be set aside for storage of fuel-bearing material (small quantities of spent nuclear fuel, damaged core material, and high-level waste) on the independent spent fuel storage installation, backfilling of the site, license termination plan submittal and implementation, and site restoration activities. In order to comply with 10 CFR 50.82(a)(6)(ii), TMI-2 Solutions requested that NRC evaluate the impacts of certain major decommissioning activities on historic and cultural resources and NRHP-eligible properties. The definition of major decommissioning activity is in 10 CFR 50.2, which states “Major decommissioning activity means, for a nuclear power reactor facility, any activity that results in permanent removal of major radioactive components, permanently modifies the structure of the containment, or results in dismantling components for shipment containing greater than class C waste in accordance with § 61.55 of this chapter.” Due to radioactive contamination, the TMI-2 structures must be demolished and removed during decommissioning.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

In the draft EA, the staff assessed the potential environmental impacts from the proposed license amendment to the following resource areas: land use; visual and scenic resources; the geologic environment; surface and groundwater resources; ecological resources; air quality; noise; historic and cultural resources; socioeconomic conditions; environmental justice; public and occupational health; transportation; and waste generation and management. The NRC staff also considered the cumulative impacts from past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions when combined with the proposed action. The TMI-2 Historic District would be adversely affected by the TMI-2 decommissioning, and adverse effects cannot be avoided. The mitigation of adverse effects to the TMI-2 Historic District will be completed in accordance with the TMI-2 Demolition and Decommissioning Programmatic Agreement (NRC 2024a).

As part of the NRC's consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, the NRC staff determined that the proposed action may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect, the Indiana bat ( Myotis sodalis), northern long-eared bat ( Myotis septentrionalis), tricolored bat ( Perimyotis subflavus), monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus), northeastern bulrush ( Scirpus ancistrochaetus), or green floater ( Lasmigona subviridis). The NRC staff transmitted an email to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its review and concurrence on May 24, 2024 (ADAMS Accession No. ML24120A324).

All other potential impacts from the proposed action were determined to not be significant, as described in the draft EA. The NRC staff found that there would be no significant negative cumulative impact to any resource area from the proposed action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternative to the Proposed Action

As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered denial of the proposed action ( i.e., the “no-action” alternative). Under the no-action alternative, the NRC would deny the licensee's request for an amendment to allow for the continuation of major decommissioning activities under Phase 2. In this case, the NRC staff would not review the historic and cultural resource impacts of the major decommissioning activities as defined in 10 CFR 50.2 and would therefore disallow the removal of NRHP-eligible structures and any impacts to historic and cultural resources. However, due to the presence of radioactive contamination, TMI-2 structures, including the NRHP-eligible structures, must be removed during the decommissioning process. Therefore, the NRC staff concludes that denying the amendment request is not a reasonable alternative.

V. Draft Finding of No Significant Impact

In accordance with the NEPA and 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has conducted an environmental review of a request for an amendment to POL No. DPR-73. The proposed amendment would revise POL No. DPR-73 to allow the licensee to conduct decommissioning at TMI-2 covering activities that were not previously addressed in the staff's environmental assessments (site-specific historical and cultural resources). Based on its environmental review of the proposed action, as documented in the draft EA, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined that granting the requested license amendment would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Therefore, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required for the proposed action and a FONSI is appropriate. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.33(a), the NRC staff is making the draft FONSI and draft EA available for public review and comment.

Dated: May 29, 2024.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Robert Sun,

Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 2, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.