The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held its latest public meeting in central Pennsylvania on Tuesday to provide an update the progress being made to restart the Crane nuclear power plant (formerly Three Mile Island-1) as early as 2027.

The meeting focused on emergency preparedness, with officials from both the NRC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency sharing how the agencies plan their on-site and off-site responses to potential emergencies.

Being prepared in and around Crane: State, county, and local government emergency plans and procedures have already been received by FEMA Region 3 as part of the federal agency's emergency preparedness review of Crane. Daniel Rose, a FEMA emergency management specialist, said the agency will conduct a detailed review of all the submitted plans, as well as solicit review and comments from other federal agencies. The ultimate objective is to ensure those around Crane have a strong plan in place in the event of an emergency at the power plant.

The NRC, meanwhile, will review Constellation's on-site emergency preparedness plan for Crane, with NRC Region I leading this review. The review will culminate with a full participation emergency exercise involving Crane and state, county, and local government bodies, tentatively scheduled for February. Both Rose and NRC senior emergency preparedness specialist Jeff Herrera said that for the full exercise scenario, the licensee (Constellation) will create an emergency scenario for other agencies to respond to. The NRC and FEMA will assess how the licensee classifies the emergency, how the licensee notifies government bodies and agencies, and how these agencies respond to the emergency.

"A full-participation exercise allows both the licensee and state and local authorities to demonstrate those capabilities to respond to an emergency according to the emergency plan," said Herrera.

FEMA's involvement in nuclear facilities emergency preparedness has its origins in Pennsylvania. FEMA established its Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Program shortly after the partial meltdown of TMI-2 in 1979.

"FEMA established the REP Program to help ensure that the health and safety of the public living around commercial plants would be adequately protected in the event of an accident," said Rose.

Brittany Dixon, state policy manager at the American Conservation Coalition, backed the restart of Crane and the presenters' views on emergency preparedness.

"We encourage the NRC to continue its thorough science-based review and to ensure emergency preparedness remains a transparent partnership between plant operators, emergency management officials, first responders, and the surrounding communities," she said during the meeting's questions and comments segment.

Not everyone agreed, however. Eric Epstein, chair of the group Three Mile Island Alert, also spoke during the public questions/comments section, saying he was worried the emergency plans relied too heavily on assumptions and outdated material. He believed some material stretched back decades.

"It is a heavy undertaking, and you're assuming the best of times" with regard to emergency response times and effectiveness, he said.

Updates on inspections and EA/FONSI: Officials also weighed in on the inspections timeline at Crane and the environmental review. NRC Region I engineering branch chief Erin Carfang said team inspections are set to begin in August. Over the next several months, inspectors will address items like cybersecurity, fire protection, corrective action, emergency preparedness, and license renewal. Furthermore, the frequency of resident inspections will soon align with the quarterly timelines of resident inspections at other facilities, said senior resident inspector Nate Mentzer.

In June, the NRC announced that its preliminary environmental assessment review determined the restart would have no significant environmental impacts, resulting in the posting of a draft environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact. The issuance of the draft EA and FONSI will likely expedite the Crane restart process, as an EA/FONSI permits the NRC to move ahead without a lengthy environmental impact statement. NRC senior environmental project manager Kevin Folk said the public comment period on the draft EA and FONSI had already closed, and NRC staff will now review all comments received and respond to relevant comments, if necessary. As has been previously reported, that review will culminate in the development of a final EA and FONSI, which the NRC plans to issue in September.