NRC shares updates on Crane Center, Clinch River, and Metropolis Works

Crane reopening: Public meetings are to be held on the possible reopening of Constellation’s Crane Clean Energy Center. Crane is the new name of the shut-down Three Mile Island-1 nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

Two public meetings will be held. The first, on Thursday, July 31, is in person only, 6:00–8:00 p.m. (ET), at the Capital Union Building at Penn State Harrisburg, 151 O Street, Room 210, in Middletown, Pa. The second meeting will take place on Wednesday, August 6, 4:00–5:30 p.m. (ET), as a virtual event held via a Microsoft Teams. These meetings will include NRC presentations and question-and-comment sessions for attendees to engage with panel members.

Clinch River construction: The NRC is offering opportunities to intervene in an adjudicatory hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s construction permit application for a GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor at the Clinch River Nuclear Site in Tennessee.

The NRC published its Federal Register notice regarding the TVA’s construction permit application for the Clinch River SMR on July 15. In addition, the NRC has provided notice that an uncontested hearing will be held on the TVA construction permit application at a time and place to be set in the future. The notice provides the public an opportunity to request a hearing and petition for leave to intervene (i.e., contested hearing) with respect to that application.

Metropolis Works inspections: A new targeted approach is being piloted for risk-informed inspections at the Honeywell Metropolis Works, a uranium hexafluoride processing facility in Illinois.

The agency published an official memo on July 15 titled “Calendar year 2026 principal inspection plan program adjustment for Honeywell Metropolis Works.” The memo noted that the NRC has approved the proposed reductions to fire protection, radiation protection, and plant modification inspections (annual and triennial) and proposes to change inspection procedure to 45 hours annually.

At the end of 2026, the NRC will assess the program to inform future allocation of inspection resources at Honeywell and potentially at other facilities. According to the NRC, the change is anticipated to result in a potential 25 percent savings in inspection resources in 2026 and, assuming the pilot is extended, could yield as much as a 40 percent savings overall for the three-year inspection cycle.