NRC restores expiration dates for renewed Turkey Point licenses

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced this week that it has restored the expiration dates of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant's units 3 and 4 subsequent license renewals (SLR) to July 19, 2052, and April 10, 2053, respectively.

The agency completed a 240-page supplemental environmental review to comply with a 2022 Order stating that the NRC should not rely on a generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) when considering subsequent license renewal-which is an extension of 20 years beyond the initial license renewal (from 60 years of operation to 80 years)-even though a GEIS is acceptable during the initial license renewal process. Since the GEIS for Turkey Point analyzed only the environmental impacts of an initial 20-year license renewal term, it did not apply to a subsequent renewal term, the NRC decided.

After reviewing a supplemental environmental study, NRC staff found that no adverse environmental impacts of Turkey Point's SLR had risen to the level "that preserving the option of SLR for energy-planning decision-makers would be unreasonable."

"Several environmental groups requested a hearing on this environmental review. After consideration of these hearing requests, the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board terminated this adjudicatory proceeding in August, concluding that no contested matters remained before it for resolution," an NRC news release said.

Background: Turkey Point Units 3 and 4 are pressurized water reactors operated by NextEra Energy that produce about 1,600 million watts of electricity, which is enough power to supply more than 900,000 homes, and are located about 25 miles south of Miami.

While the NRC approved the SLR application for Turkey Point's units back in December 2019, the commission issued decisions in February 2022 that impacted the environmental review process for SLR applications.

A separate commission decision provided an option for license holders to provide additional environmental information on a site-specific basis, instead of waiting for NRC staff to revise the GEIS and complete a related rulemaking. A supplemental environmental report on SLR was submitted for the Turkey Point units in June 2022.

What's next? The NRC will accept appeals on this latest decision through late September. However, per NRC regulations, the staff will take licensing actions even if an appeal is pending. The commission retains the ability to act on any appeal and, as needed, direct additional staff action on the licenses.