Nuclear Regulatory Commission Grants Six Exemptions to Four Power Companies

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted six exemptions to four nuclear power companies during the third quarter of 2026, covering decommissioning trust fund spending, fitness-for-duty work hours, license renewal paperwork and fuel rod cladding. The decision was announced in a single notice, “Issuance of Multiple Exemptions,” published in the Federal Register of Thursday, 22 October 2026 (Vol. 91, No. 203, p. 66741). The notice carries Docket No. NRC-2026-4885 and was signed on 20 October 2026 by Robert Kuntz, Senior Project Manager in the Operating Reactor Licensing Branch 3, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

The notice states that the six exemptions were granted between 1 July and 30 September 2026 in response to requests submitted by four licensees: Constellation Energy Generation, LLC, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Entergy Operations, Inc. and Vistra Operations Company LLC. The agency said the tables in the notice are intended to provide “transparency regarding the number and type of exemptions the NRC has issued,” listing licensee name, facility name, docket number, document description, document date and ADAMS accession number for each exemption.

Exemptions relieve licensees from specific requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) that would otherwise apply to their facilities. The notice was issued under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq., the Atomic Energy Act framework that underpins NRC licensing.

Constellation and Vistra: trust fund earnings and fuel cladding

• Constellation Energy Generation, LLC obtained an exemption from 10 CFR 50.82(a)(8)(i), 10 CFR 50.82(a)(8)(ii), 10 CFR 50.75(h)(1)(iv) and 10 CFR 50.75(h)(2) to allow the use of decommissioning trust fund earnings for certain decommissioning activities, covering Calvert Cliffs Units 1 and 2, Clinton Unit 1, Limerick Units 1 and 2, Peach Bottom Units 2 and 3 and Salem Units 1 and 2 (EPID L-2026-LLE-0017; document dated 10 July 2026).
• Vistra Operations Company LLC received an exemption from 10 CFR 50.46 to allow the use of Optimized ZIRLO fuel rod cladding material at Comanche Peak Units 1 and 2 (EPID L-2026-LLE-0002; 25 August 2026).

TVA and Entergy: work hours, environmental reports and renewal

• Tennessee Valley Authority — Watts Bar Units 1 and 2: exemption from 10 CFR 54.23 and 10 CFR 51.53(c) on the environmental information required in a license renewal application (EPID L-2026-LLE-0007; 10 July 2026).
• Tennessee Valley Authority — Sequoyah Unit 1: exemption from 10 CFR 26.205 on fitness-for-duty work hours (EPID L-2026-LLE-0024; 17 July 2026).
• Entergy Operations, Inc. — Arkansas Nuclear One Units 1 and 2, Grand Gulf Unit 1, River Bend Unit 1 and Waterford Unit 3: exemptions from 10 CFR 50.55a(g)(4)(ii) and 10 CFR 50.55a(y) (EPID L-2026-LLE-0009; 10 August 2026).
• Entergy Operations, Inc. — Arkansas Nuclear One Units 1 and 2: exemptions from 10 CFR 2.109(b) related to the submission of a subsequent license renewal application (EPID L-2026-LLE-0014; 24 August 2026).

Holtec’s Pioneer units appear in a separate notice

The same issue of the Federal Register carries a distinct NRC notice on the first part of a phased construction permit application, including a limited work authorization request, filed by SMR, LLC on behalf of Palisades SMR, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Holtec International. The application covers a dual-unit SMR-300 plant at the Palisades Energy Center in Covert, Michigan, with the units individually named Pioneer Unit 1 and Pioneer Unit 2 (Docket Nos. 50-616 and 50-617; NRC-2026-0265).

That notice, dated 22 October 2026 and signed by Michelle Hayes, Chief of the Advanced Reactor Licensing Branch 2, is the fourth of four consecutive weekly notifications that began on 1 October 2026. The NRC accepted Part 1 of the application for docketing on 27 February 2026 (91 FR 9892) and is performing a detailed technical review; the limited work authorization application is available under ADAMS Package Accession No. ML25365A983.

For readers tracking US nuclear regulation, the batch notice is a consolidated record of the relief the NRC granted to the operating fleet in a single quarter, spanning decommissioning finance, staffing rules, environmental reporting and fuel design. The parallel Holtec notice shows the same agency processing the first part of a construction permit for a dual-unit small modular reactor, the licensing step that precedes any approval of early construction work.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 203, 22 October 2026, Notices, p. 66741 (official reference: NRC-2026-4885).