Calling on NRC for Oyster Creek Public Hearing

The New Jersey Sierra Club filed a formal request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a public hearing regarding the transfer of liscense from Exelon’s Oyster Creek to Holtec. The NRC published a notice in the Federal Register on Friday about its review of the license transfer application for the Oyster Creek nuclear plant from Exelon to Holtec International.

“The NRC needs to have a public hearing on the transfer of licenses from Exelon’s Oyster Creek to Holtec. The public needs knows what is happening in terms of the license transfer, cost of cleanup, and liability. Before the NRC approves the transfer, we must make sure this is a good deal for the ratepayers, environment, and communities of New Jersey,” said Jeff Tittel Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We like the idea of decommissioning the plant sooner than later however we still have a lot of concerns with Holtec’s new dry cask technology. What happens at this site could have catastrophic impacts to the environment and our safety and take hundreds of years to deal with whether it’s a spill or terrorist attack. We need to have a transparent and open process so having this hearing is an important part of that.”

Holtec plans to create a wholly owned subsidiary, called Oyster Creek Environmental Protection LLC, to own the property and control the trust fund. Another wholly owned subsidiary, Holtec Decommissioning International, would hold the operating license to run the decommissioning. HDI would also use Comprehensive Decommissioning International as a general contractor and Atkins, a wholly owned subsidiary of SNC- Lavalin, will be involved in the work as well. SNC-Lavalin however has been charged with corruption, fraud and bribery in Canada, according to Canadian media reports.

“Holtec’s decision to bring in subcontractors like SNC- Lavalin that serious charges in Canada raises question of oversight and transparency of the facility. These subsidiaries and contractors are third party and not a BPU-regulated entity. This means there won’t be as much transparency involved in the process. We want to make sure that the companies involved in the purchase are doing their job but more importantly held accountable,” said Tittel. “Holtec is a small firm compares to Exelon, will they have enough resources to fix the site or put that cost on ratepayers.”

The public is concerned about Holtec’s plan to move still-hot nuclear waste out of water pools and into dry cask storage in half the usual time of about 5 years. They claim their casts are proprietary and have not disclosed detail about their design to the public. Until the rods are out of the spent-fuel pools and put into dry cask storage, the plant is extremely vulnerable. If there is a power outage, storm surge, or flood, the rods could melt down and create serious public health and environmental damage.

“Holtec says it will take 2.5 years to transfer the spent fuel in their dry cask storage which has never been done before. The company says their cask storage design is proprietary which is an excuse not to let the public know how they are going to do this. This raises even bigger concerns. We don’t know enough about Holtec’s new dry cask storage design and we should not be experimenting on the people of Ocean County.Holtec needs to prove to us that doing it in half the time will be safe,” said Tittel. “The sooner the plant can be dismantled and decommissioned with the fuel rods going to dry cask storage, the less vulnerable the plant will be during the next storm surge. But we need to do it right.”

Holtec has also proposed to build a nuclear repository in New Mexico. They have applied for a license to open an interim spent fuel-storage facility in New Mexico and has submitted its official application for license for transfer to the NRC.

“We have opposed interim storage facilities for nuclear waste and are unsure if Holtec’s purchase is being made to pressure the DOE and NRC for approval of that site. There may not be an interim storage site in New Mexico and it could stay on site for centuries. We need to make sure the nuclear waste is in a spot that avoids potential sea level rise or potential terrorists,” said Tittel.

The purchase predicted for 2019 needs to be approved by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, and other agencies. The notice gives the public 20 days to ask for a public hearing, requests will be accepted until Nov. 8.

“With Hotlec adding more third parties in the purchase and new technology that they will not disclose to the public brings questions about accountability, transparency, and funding that need to be answered. We want to make sure that if this transfer goes through, this becomes a positive for New Jersey,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We have fought for years to close this site and we want to make sure it is done right. We need to make sure that there is public oversight and transparency so that we can avoid any catastrophes.”