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COVERT, MI, and ROCKVILLE, MD, 11:00 AM ET, WED., FEB. 12, 2025--
[Please note that the time and format for this pre-hearing have been changed. Although the pre-hearing will be held on the same date as previously announced, Wednesday, February 12th, the start time has been changed to 11:00 am Eastern Time (It had previously been 8:30 am ET). In addition, the pre-hearing will no longer be held in-person. Instead, it will be held virtually/remotely. A listen-only call-in line will still be made available, which members of the public and news media can use to listen in on the pre-hearing: dial (301) 576-2978, and then enter passcode 101 394 753#.
(The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- NRC -- has instructed that: After successful entry of the passcode, the following message will be heard: “You are not allowed to unmute. To raise your hand press *5.” Please note that this telephone line is not being monitored and pressing “*5” will not allow participation in the conference.For additional information, please contact NRC staffer Twana Ellis at Twana.Ellis@nrc.gov or 301-415-6094.)
These changes were ordered by the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) in an ORDER issued at 5:16pm ET on Thursday, February 6, 2025.]
A three-judge (administrative law judges, or hearing examiners) ASLBP has ordered oral argument pre-hearings to be held on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, beginning at 11:00 am Eastern Time, regarding Holtec’s scheme to restart the closed-for-good Palisades reactor on Lake Michigan's shore in Covert Township, Van Buren County, southwest Michigan. See the updated ORDER, dated Feb. 6, here.
The ASLBP’s administrative law judges are: Emily I. Krause, Chair; Dr. Gary S. Arnold; and Dr. Arielle J. Miller. The oral argument pre-hearings will take place virtually.
The environmental coalition opposing Palisades’ restart includes: Beyond Nuclear; Don’t Waste Michigan; Michigan Safe Energy Future; Nuclear Energy Information Service of Chicago; and Three Mile Island Alert of Pennsylvania. The coalition’s legal counsel are Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio, and Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The coalition’s expert witnesses include Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer at Fairewinds, and Dr. Mark Jacobson, professor at Stanford University.
Links to the environmental coalition's intervention petition and hearing request, dated October 7, 2024, the NRC's and Holtec's November 4, 2024 "Answers" to the petition and request, and the environmental coalition's November 12, 2024 "Replies" to NRC and Holtec, are posted at: https://beyondnuclear.org/intervention-against-palisades-zombie-reactor-restart/
On Jan. 22, 2025, NRC published a press release about the ASLBP oral argument pre-hearings. But please note that aspects of the original press release have been changed — as mentioned above, the ASLBP’s ORDER of Feb. 6, 2025 has changed the start time to 11am ET, and has cancelled the in-person format for the pre-hearing, now making it virtual/remote participation-only.
More Beyond Nuclear website posts regarding Holtec’s "zombie" reactor restart scheme at Palisades, and its so-called “Small Modular Reactor” new build schemes at Palisades, as well as Big Rock Point (located in Hayes Township, MI, between Charlevoix and Petoskey, Palisades' sibling nuclear power plant, also closed for good, as well as decommissioned), are posted in reverse chronological order, here.
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