Three Mile Island owner looks to move to next phase of cleanup

• Rachel McDevitt
  BioRecent Stories

  

  I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.
  
  My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.
  
  I look forward to winter just for the chance to ski a few times each season. I try to keep myself from doom-scrolling on my phone by keeping my hands busy knitting and learning to play the piano.
  
  I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.

Joe Ulrich / WITF

Exelon says it will close Three Mile Island's Unit 1 reactor in September 2019. Unit 2 has been shuttered since a partial meltdown in 1979.

The company that owns Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 reactor wants to take the next step in dismantling the shuttered plant.

TMI-2 is the site of the infamous partial meltdown in 1979 – the most serious accident at a commercial nuclear power plant in U.S. history.

In an Aug. 22 notice in the Federal Register, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said TMI-2 Solutions is applying to change its license to say it is decommissioning the plant using the DECON method. That method involves disposing of radioactive materials at a commercial site or decontaminating materials on site.

The move is open to public comment and subject to NRC approval.

The NRC says preliminary review finds no increased risk of accidents at the site by moving to the next phase of clean up.

TMI-2 Solutions bought the reactor in 2020, betting it could profit by cleaning up the plant on a lower budget than what is in a dedicated fund. In a March report to the NRC, TMI-2 Solutions said the fund balance was $902 million as of Dec. 31, 2021. Decommissioning is estimated to cost more than $1 billion.

TMI-2 Solutions plans to finish decommissioning in 2037. It could keep control over an area that may be set aside for waste storage.

TMI-2 hasn’t produced power since the 1979 accident.

TMI’s Unit 1 reactor is owned by Exelon. It shut down on Sept. 20, 2019 because it struggled to compete with cheaper energy sources such as natural gas.

Public comments can be made at regulations.gov until Sept. 21. People interested in commenting can find full details by searching for Document ID NRC-2022-0156-0001 on the website.

Written comments can be mailed 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.

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About StateImpact Pennsylvania

StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF, WHYY, and the Allegheny Front. Reporters Reid Frazier, Rachel McDevitt and Susan Phillips cover the commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.

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