SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

The NRC issued Amendment No. 283 to RFOL No. DPR-20, to Palisades Energy, LLC (the licensee), under exigent circumstances, which revised the license for operation of the Palisades Nuclear Plant (the facility) located in Van Buren County, Michigan. A publicly available version of the license amendment is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML26282A040. Documents related to this amendment are listed in the safety evaluation enclosed with the amendment. The amendment was effective as of the date of its issuance.

The amendment modifies UFSAR sections 9.11 and 14.19, on a one-time basis, to describe an alternative fuel-handling process for recovery of tilted fuel assembly DD41. Palisades entered Mode 6 (Refueling) and began loading fuel into the reactor vessel on August 30, 2026. During core reload, fuel assembly DD41 was placed into core location H-1 and tilted over after being released by the refueling machine, coming to rest at an approximate 30-degree angle with the lower tie plate in core location H-1 and the upper tie plate, leaning against the core shroud on the opposite side of the core. The UFSAR changes were effective immediately upon issuance of the amendment and are applicable for the duration of the recovery of fuel ( printed page 66739) assembly DD41, including retrieval from the reactor vessel, packaging it within an engineered transfer canister, transporting the canister from the containment building to the spent fuel handling building, and placing the canister and fuel assembly into the cask loading area within the spent fuel pool.

II. Notice of Issuance of Amendment to License, Final Determination of No Significant Hazard Consideration, and Opportunity for a Hearing (Exigent Circumstances)

By letter dated September 30, 2026, PNP requested that the NRC modify UFSAR sections 9.11 and 14.19 on a one-time basis. The NRC issued the amendment, which is described in section II of this Federal Register notice.

The NRC has determined for this amendment that the application for the amendment complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (the Act), as amended, and the NRC's rules and regulations. The NRC has made appropriate findings as required by the Act and the NRC's rules and regulations in chapter 1 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), which are set forth in the license amendment.

There were exigent circumstances associated with the date the amendment was needed, in that the NRC and the licensee had to act quickly, and time did not permit the NRC to publish before issuance its usual notice of consideration of issuance of amendment, proposed no significant hazards consideration (NSHC) determination and opportunity for public comment, and opportunity for a hearing in the Federal Register . Instead, the NRC published notices in the Grand Rapids Press and the Kalamazoo Gazette (October 6 and 8, 2026), and the Herald Palladium (October 7 and 8, 2026). Public comments were received on the proposed no significant hazards consideration and were addressed by the NRC staff. The NRC was also able to consult the State Official before issuance, and the State of Michigan had no comment.

Under its regulations, the NRC may issue and make an amendment immediately effective, notwithstanding the pendency before it of a request for a hearing from any person, in advance of the holding and completion of any required hearing, where it has determined that NSHC is involved. The Commission has applied the standards of 10 CFR 50.92, “Issuance of amendment,” and has made a final determination that the amendment involves NSHC. The basis for this determination is contained in the Commission documents listed in section II of this notice. Accordingly, the amendment has been issued and made effective as indicated. Because the amendment was issued in exigent circumstances without prior notice of an opportunity for hearing, the NRC is, with this notice, providing an opportunity for hearing on the amendment.

The Commission has determined that this amendment satisfies the criteria for categorical exclusion in accordance with 10 CFR 51.22. Therefore, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(d), no environmental impact statement or environmental assessment need be prepared for this amendment.

For further details with respect to this action, including the Commission's final NSHC determination or discussion of exigent circumstances, see the amendment and associated documents such as the Commission's letter and safety evaluation, which are referenced in section II of this notice.

III. Opportunity To Request a Hearing and Petition for Leave To Intervene

For those amendments that have not been previously noticed in the Federal Register , within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, any persons (petitioner) whose interest may be affected by this action may file a request for a hearing and petition for leave to intervene (petition) with respect to the action. Petitions shall be filed in accordance with the Commission's “Agency Rules of Practice and Procedure” in 10 CFR part 2. Interested persons should consult 10 CFR 2.309. If a petition is filed, the Commission or a presiding officer will rule on the petition, and, if appropriate, a notice of a hearing will be issued.

Petitions must be filed no later than 60 days from the date of publication of this notice in accordance with the filing instructions in the “Electronic Submissions (E-Filing)” section of this document. Petitions and motions for leave to file new or amended contentions that are filed after the deadline will not be entertained absent a determination by the presiding officer that the filing demonstrates good cause by satisfying the three factors in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i) through (iii).

A State, local governmental body, Federally recognized Indian Tribe, or designated agency thereof, may submit a petition to the Commission to participate as a party under 10 CFR 2.309(h) no later than 60 days from the date of publication of this notice. Alternatively, a State, local governmental body, Federally recognized Indian Tribe, or designated agency thereof, may participate as a non-party under 10 CFR 2.315(c).

For information about filing a petition and about participation by a person not a party under 10 CFR 2.315, see ADAMS Accession No. ML20340A053 ( adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/​webSearch2/​main.jsp?​AccessionNumber=​ML20340A053) and the NRC's public website ( www.nrc.gov/​about-nrc/​regulatory/​adjudicatory/​hearing.html#participate).

IV. Electronic Submissions (E-Filing)

All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including documents filed by an interested State, local governmental body, Federally recognized Indian Tribe, or designated agency thereof that requests to participate under 10 CFR 2.315(c), must be filed in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302. The E-Filing process requires participants to submit and serve all adjudicatory documents over the internet, or in some cases, to mail copies on electronic storage media, unless an exemption permitting an alternative filing method, as further discussed, is granted. Detailed guidance on electronic submissions is located in the “Guidance for Electronic Submissions to the NRC” (ML13031A056) and on the NRC's public website ( www.nrc.gov/​site-help/​e-submittals.html).

To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 10 days prior to the filing deadline, the participant should contact the Office of the Secretary by email at Hearing.Docket@nrc.gov, or by telephone at 301-415-1677, to: (1) request a digital identification (ID) certificate, which allows the participant (or their counsel or representative) to digitally sign submissions and access the E-Filing system for any proceeding in which it is participating; and (2) advise the Secretary that the participant will be submitting a petition or other adjudicatory document (even in instances in which the participant, or their counsel or representative, already holds an NRC-issued digital ID certificate). Based upon this information, the Secretary will establish an electronic docket for the proceeding if the Secretary has not already established an electronic docket.

Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is available on the NRC's public website ( www.nrc.gov/​site-help/​e-submittals/​getting-started.html). After a digital ID certificate is obtained and a docket is created, the participant must submit adjudicatory documents in the Portable Document Format. Guidance on submissions is available on the NRC's ( printed page 66740) public website ( www.nrc.gov/​site-help/​electronic-sub-ref-mat.html). A filing is considered complete at the time the document is submitted through the NRC's E-Filing system. To be timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the E-Filing system no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on the due date. Upon receipt of a transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends the submitter an email confirming receipt of the document. The E-Filing system also distributes an email that provides access to the document to the NRC's Office of the General Counsel and any others who have advised the Office of the Secretary that they wish to participate in the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the document on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for and receive a digital ID certificate before adjudicatory documents are filed in order to obtain access to the documents via the E-Filing system.

A person filing electronically using the NRC's adjudicatory E-Filing system may seek assistance by contacting the NRC's Electronic Filing Help Desk through the “Contact Us” link located on the NRC's public website ( www.nrc.gov/​site-help/​e-submittals.html), by email to MSHD.Resource@nrc.gov, or by a toll-free call at 1-866-672-7640. The NRC Electronic Filing Help Desk is available between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Participants who believe that they have good cause for not submitting documents electronically must file an exemption request, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing stating why there is good cause for not filing electronically and requesting authorization to continue to submit documents in paper format. Such filings must be submitted in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(b)-(d). Participants filing adjudicatory documents in this manner are responsible for serving their documents on all other participants. Participants granted an exemption under 10 CFR 2.302(g)(2) must still meet the electronic formatting requirement in 10 CFR 2.302(g)(1), unless the participant also seeks and is granted an exemption from 10 CFR 2.302(g)(1).

Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in the NRC's electronic hearing docket, which is publicly available on the NRC's public website ( ehd.nrc.gov), unless otherwise excluded pursuant to an order of the presiding officer. If you do not have an NRC-issued digital ID certificate as previously described, click “cancel” when the link requests certificates and you will be automatically directed to the NRC's electronic hearing docket where you will be able to access any publicly available documents in a particular hearing docket. Participants are requested not to include personal privacy information such as social security numbers, home addresses, or personal phone numbers in their filings, unless an NRC regulation or other law requires submission of such information. With respect to copyrighted works, except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the adjudicatory filings and would constitute a Fair Use application, participants should not include copyrighted materials in their submission.

For further details with respect to this action, see the application for license amendment dated September 30, 2026 (ADAMS Accession No. ML26273A469), as supplemented on October 2, 2026, October 8, 2026, and October 12, 2026 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML26275A214, ML26281A333, and ML26285A034, respectively).

Attorney for licensee: Bill Gill, General Counsel, Holtec International, Inc., Krishna P. Singh Technology Campus, 1 Holtec Blvd., Camden, NJ 08104.

NRC Branch Chief: Ilka Berrios.

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

91 FR 66738