State regulators are negotiating a settlement with the owners of Three Mile Island’s Unit 2, the storied nuclear reactor that partially melted down in 1979, amid objections over the proposed sale to a third party that would take over its decommissioning.
The Department of Environmental Protection raised a number of concerns over FirstEnergy’s plan to transfer its license for Unit 2 — along with ratepayer-funded money set aside from decommissioning — to the Utah-based EnergySolutions.
Last week, the DEP told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it was reviewing information and asked the federal agency not to rule on matters related to the transfer until after Aug. 10.
Jennifer Young, a FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said in a written statement that “details of the settlement agreement are confidential, and I don’t have additional information regarding the settlement to provide at this time.”
DEP spokesman Neil Shader said the agency “will reach a decision soon.”
Meanwhile, Exelon received the go-ahead to scale back emergency planning in the event of an accident at the plant.
READ MORE: Who’s paying to decommission Three Mile Island? You are, and you’re keeping the nuclear waste, too.
State Environmental Secretary Patrick McDonnell raised a number of unanswered questions about the proposed transfer this spring. They included concern that FirstEnergy, whose decommissioning funds are tied to a faltering stock market, won’t leave EnergySolutions with enough money for cleanup; that radiation levels at the old reactor remain largely a mystery; that FirstEnergy hasn’t provided enough detail about what it plans to do with radioactive material; and that the entire process could leave the area with longterm environmental and public health hazards.
Regardless of the answers to these concerns, Three Mile Island will house toxic nuclear waste for years and possibly decades due to the absence of a national repository.
FirstEnergy provided state regulators with at least some of what they asked for but only after the state employees signed nondisclosure agreements (also referred to as NDAs) ensuring that the material remained secret.
However, DEP is not the only party involved.
Eric Epstein, an activist who’s followed Three Mile Island’s legacy for four decades, also filed a brief in the matter and has received material from FirstEnergy — although possibly not the same material the DEP was privy to.
“[FirstEnergy] provided us proprietary data that does not satisfy our concerns,” Epstein said. “I can’t speak for the DEP; we’re not a party in the discussions they are having.”
Epstein, who also signed an NDA, vowed to continue fighting the transfer even if the DEP reaches an agreement and lifts its objections.
“We don’t accept making TMI a high-level radioactive waste site,” he said. “Regardless of the guarantees, the amount of money [FirstEnergy] anticipates for the cleanup is based on a quick and dirty plan. We’re not going to sign off on that.”
READ MORE: ‘We believe there’s a clear and present danger’: Three Mile Island decommissioning in question
He also objects to FirstEnergy’s signing over the decommissioning trust fund to a private trust fund that he believes won’t be held adequately accountable if something goes wrong with the decommissioning process.
In its most recent filing with the NRC this March, GPU Nuclear reported having about $899 million in its decommissioning fund against estimated cleanup costs of more than $1.3 billion. The wildcard, of course, is that these funds are linked to the stock market, which has proven exceedingly volatile during the coronavirus crisis.
FirstEnergy has contended that the fund has a “highly conservative investment strategy” and that “recent market fluctuations have had very little impact on the balance.”
EnergySolutions, the Salt Lake City-based company which would take over from FirstEnergy, bills itself as a less expensive alternative for utilities looking to dismantle their old nuclear reactors and has stepped into a number of decommissioning projects in recent years.
Last week, the NRC allowed Exelon to reduce its emergency planning responsibility for both units. While the company owns the recently shuttered Unit 1, it was put in charge of emergency planning for both.
That means Exelon will end the routine siren tests, off-site radiation monitoring and the 10-mile evacuation zone around the site. It would also end its contributions to local governments which, in 2018, included $425,000 to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency; $87,000 to Dauphin County and $5,000 to Londonderry Township, where the facility is located.
READ MORE: How did 4,707 coronavirus cases go missing? The devil’s in the data
Ruth Miller, spokeswoman for the state Emergency Management Agency, said PEMA and the DEP “will continue to conduct planning, training and exercises to ensure state, county and local readiness for possible incidents at the facility” despite the NRC decision.
Miller and Shader did not respond to questions about whether this meant the two agencies would continue overseeing the 10-mile evacuation zone or off-site radiation monitoring.
Epstein said the larger problem with both Exelon and FirstEnergy’s recent actions with regard to the two reactors at Three Mile Island is that neither have received much public scrutiny. The public comment periods were not well-publicized and there’s been no recent local public hearing to gather the input of nearby residents.
Officials from Dauphin County and Londonderry Township did not respond to requests for comment Monday but the county commissioners did issue a joint letter to the NRC last fall seeking greater local input into the decommissioning process.
“Given the history of this plant, and the significant impact decommissioning will have on our region,” the letter read, “we believe having a community advisory board would be of great benefit.”
Wallace McKelvey may be reached at wmckelvey@pennlive.com. Follow him on Twitter @wjmckelvey. Find PennLive on Facebook.
Read the ‘The hunt for Ray Gricar.’
Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.