The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved the transfer of the Three Mile Island Unit-2 Nuclear Power Plant and the corresponding Possession-Only license from FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiaries GPU Nuclear, Inc., Metropolitan Edison Company, Jersey Central Power & Light Company, and Pennsylvania Electric Company to a subsidiary of Energy Solutions known as TMI-2 Solutions, LLC. In addition to the NRC approval, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) today approved the sale of TMI-2 to TMI-2 Solutions, LLC.
FirstEnergy Corp and Energy Solutions submitted the request for the license transfer on November 12, 2019. The NRC and BPU review processes confirm that EnergySolutions meets all regulatory, legal, financial, and technical requirements to acquire the NRC license and transfer the plant.
Unit-2 at Three Mile Island
“This is a major milestone in the nuclear industry and for the central Pennsylvania region,” stated Ken Robuck, President and CEO of EnergySolutions, adding “We appreciate the thorough review of this request by the NRC and the New Jersey BPU with the understanding of the responsibility granted to EnergySolutions by both organizations to safely decommission the Three Mile Island Unit 2 Nuclear Power Plant.”
He continues, “We are excited for the opportunity to safely decommission Unit-2 at Three Mile Island and restore the area to its natural state. We currently have four decommissioning projects, two of which will be completed by the end of the year. These four projects have provided valuable experience with best practices and lessons learned that we will incorporate into this project.”
TMI-2 facility
In 1979, TMI-2 experienced a partial meltdown which resulted in the permanent closure of the facility. In the 1980s, 99% of the nuclear fuel was removed from the plant, packaged and relocated to a storage facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The TMI-2 facility has remained in a safe and stable storage condition known as Post Defueling Monitored Storage for the past 27 years.
To perform the decommissioning work on this project, Energy Solutions and Jingoli, a construction company headquartered in New Jersey, formed a joint venture called ES/Jingoli Decommissioning, LLC. Jingoli successfully managed and executed nuclear projects on behalf of numerous utilities in the United States and Canada with experience in the nuclear field from pre-construction, construction management, project controls, and decommissioning.