NRC Approves Holtec's Alternative Plan to Remove Tilted Fuel Assembly at Palisades Nuclear Power Plant

About two weeks after the fuel loading incident at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert, Mich., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved Holtec International's emergency License Amendment Request (LAR), allowing the use of custom-designed specialized equipment to remove the tilted fuel assembly from the reactor pressure vessel.

The NRC stated that because the incident has halted the plant's fuel loading operations and part of the restart work, this license amendment was reviewed and issued under emergency conditions. Holtec submitted the amendment request on September 30 and requested approval by October 2; the public comment period for the matter closed on October 8. In its decision, the NRC noted that after review it confirmed that Holtec's proposed approach can be executed safely and meets regulatory standards. The approval amends the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) for the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant and grants a one-time exemption allowing an alternative method to transfer the fuel assembly from the reactor pressure vessel to the spent fuel pool.

According to the sequence of events disclosed in the application documents, the fuel assembly was placed in core position H-1 but tilted after being released by the fuel loading machine. The assembly is currently at a 30-degree angle relative to the core lower support plate, with its bottom nozzle still in the designated core position and its top nozzle leaning against the opposite side of the core shroud. Monitoring shows that the fuel rods within the assembly remain intact and undamaged, and no other fuel assemblies in the core were affected.

The on-site work team will implement a custom alternative fuel transfer procedure. The plant team has designed a dedicated fuel movement tool to reduce operational risk in the reactor pool. The tilted assembly will be lifted using the containment polar crane and the dedicated tool and moved into a fuel transfer cask, with the assembly kept at a depth of at least 10 feet underwater throughout the lifting and casking process. The transfer cask with the assembly loaded will weigh up to 49,000 pounds; after securing, the crane will lift it out of the water and drain the internal water, then transport it to the equipment hatch station. The equipment hatch flatbed will then transport the transfer cask to the spent fuel pool, where the spent fuel building crane will finally lift it and place it vertically in the transfer cask storage area of the pool.

According to the relevant regulatory documents, the license amendment took effect immediately upon issuance on October 13 and will be formally implemented within 10 days after issuance.