SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

The CCEC, formerly Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (TMI-1), consists of a single pressurized-water nuclear reactor located in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on Three Mile Island in the Susquehanna River. Originally licensed for operation on April 19, 1974, the NRC issued a renewed facility operating license (RFOL) for TMI-1 on October 22, 2009, with the license term expiring on April 19, 2034.

On June 20, 2017, and September 26, 2019, Exelon Generation Company, LLC, the licensee who then operated the facility, submitted certifications that it would permanently cease operations of TMI-1 and had permanently removed fuel from the reactor vessel, respectively, in accordance with paragraph 50.82(a)(1) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). Upon the NRC's docketing of these certifications, the RFOL no longer authorized operation of the reactor or emplacement or retention of fuel into the reactor vessel, as provided by 10 CFR 50.82(a)(2).

CEG is seeking to return the CCEC to power operations and has submitted for NRC approval an exemption request and three license amendment requests (LARs) in support of allowing the resumption of power operations through April 19, 2034, the previous expiration date of the facility's RFOL.

A notice of opportunity to request a hearing and petition for leave to intervene was published in the Federal Register on February 24, 2026, regarding the three LARs. Consistent with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the NRC's regulations, the NRC did not publish a notice of opportunity for hearing on the exemption request.

The NRC staff prepared a draft EA and draft FONSI in accordance with 10 CFR 51.30, “Environmental assessment,” documenting its environmental review of the proposed actions related to reauthorizing power operations at the CCEC. The NRC staff issued the draft EA and draft FONSI with a notice in the ( printed page 60989) Federal Register and offered a 30-day public comment period in accordance with 10 CFR 51.33, “Draft finding of no significant impact; distribution.” The draft FONSI stated that the NRC staff had preliminarily determined that the proposed Federal actions will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment.

The environmental review included fulfillment of the NRC's obligations related to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (54 U.S.C. 300101, et seq.) (NHPA). The regulation in 36 CFR 800.8, “Coordination with the National Environmental Policy Act,” allows agencies to use their National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.) process to fulfill the requirements of Section 106 of the NHPA. Therefore, pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), the NRC used its process for the preparation of the EA on the proposed actions to comply with Section 106 of the NHPA in lieu of the procedures set forth at 36 CFR 800.3 through 800.6.

After consideration of the public comments, the NRC staff finalized the EA, which is summarized in Section II of this document. Based on this final EA and in accordance with 10 CFR 51.31, “Determinations based on environmental assessment,” the NRC staff has determined that the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) is not necessary and has prepared a FONSI in accordance with 10 CFR 51.32, “Finding of no significant impact.” The FONSI is detailed in Section III of this document.

II. Summary of Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Federal Actions and Need

The NRC's proposed actions are decisions on whether to grant or deny CEG's interdependent, connected licensing and regulatory requests, including any revisions or supplements thereto or other regulatory or licensing requests submitted to the NRC, that are necessary to support reauthorizing power operations and refueling of the CCEC reactor. The DOE EDF's proposed action is a decision on providing Federal financial assistance for refueling and resumption of power operations at the CCEC pursuant to CEG's loan guarantee agreement with the DOE that was issued pursuant to the Energy Policy Act (EPA) of 2005.

The need for the NRC proposed actions, which would collectively support the reauthorization of power operations and refueling of the CCEC under the existing RFOL, is to provide 835 megawatts-electric of baseload power generation capability to the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland electric grid. In support of its decision to pursue the resumption of power operations at the CCEC, CEG cites a 20-year power purchase agreement signed in 2024 with Microsoft to supply carbon-free energy from the CCEC to Microsoft's data centers located within the PJM Interconnection LLC's electric grid. The need for the DOE proposed action (Federal financial assistance in the form of a loan guarantee) is to implement DOE's authority under Title XVII of the EPA of 2005, which was reauthorized, amended, and revised by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (42 U.S.C. 16517) and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Pub. L. 119-21 (July 4, 2025)) to create the EDF Program. The purpose of the EDF Program is to finance projects and facilities in the United States that retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that has ceased operations or enable operating energy infrastructure to increase capacity or output.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Federal Actions

In the EA, the NRC staff assessed the potential reasonably foreseeable environmental effects (impacts) from the proposed actions associated with the following relevant resource areas: land use and visual resources; meteorology, air quality, and noise; surface water resources; groundwater resources; ecological resources (terrestrial and aquatic); Federally protected ecological resources; historic and cultural resources; socioeconomic conditions; radiological and nonradiological human health; waste management; uranium fuel cycle and transportation; and postulated accidents. The NRC staff also considered decommissioning impacts as well as greenhouse gas emissions and climate change effects. The NRC staff determined that the environmental impacts of the proposed actions would be NOT SIGNIFICANT for each potentially affected environmental resource area. In addition, the NRC staff determined that the projected effects of climate change would not alter any of the impact determinations described in the EA.

Environmental Impacts of Alternatives to the Proposed Federal Actions

The NRC staff considered a reasonable range of alternatives to the proposed actions, including an analysis of any environmental impacts of not implementing the proposed actions ( i.e., the no-action alternative). The alternatives discussion in an EA does not need to be as extensive as would be required for an EIS. The NRC staff determined that there are no alternatives that meet the need for the proposed actions. For the no-action alternative, the NRC staff determined that the environmental impacts could potentially be SIGNIFICANT such as those associated with the construction and operation of new replacement power facilities. In contrast, the potential environmental impacts from the proposed actions of reauthorizing power operations at the existing CCEC would be NOT SIGNIFICANT for each potentially affected environmental resource area. Therefore, the NRC staff concluded that there are no environmentally preferrable alternatives to the proposed actions.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

The proposed Federal actions before the NRC are whether to grant requests for an exemption and license amendments to support reauthorizing power operations at the CCEC through the remainder of its RFOL term (to April 19, 2034). The NRC staff has conducted an environmental review of these actions and prepared an EA. This FONSI incorporates by reference the EA summarized in Section II of this notice and referenced in Section IV of this notice. Based on its determination in the EA that the environmental impacts of the proposed actions would be NOT SIGNIFICANT for each potentially affected resource area, the NRC staff has determined that the proposed Federal actions will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC staff has made a determination not to prepare an EIS for the proposed Federal actions and that a FONSI is warranted.

This FONSI and the related environmental documents referenced throughout this notice are available for public inspection as discussed in the EA and Section IV of this notice. At the conclusion of the NRC environmental review, the DOE EDF will publish a separate notice or decision document, as appropriate.

IV. Availability of Documents

The EA and related documents identified in the following table are available to interested parties through ADAMS, as indicated. ( printed page 60990)

Authority:42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.

91 FR 60988