Members of the advisory panel for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s digital repository for documents on the license adjudication for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository have until Feb. 13 to submit recommendations on reconstituting the retired system.
That is also the date for panel members to share their thoughts on the NRC staff’s list of options for the future of the Licensing Support Network (LSN).
The NRC shut down the network in 2011 after the Obama administration cut off federal efforts to license and build the Nevada disposal facility. The system’s nearly 3.7 documents are now housed in the agency’s ADAMS online document system.
But with the Trump administration seeking to revive the Yucca Mountain licensing process (without much luck so far), the NRC is considering how to reconstitute the Licensing Support Network if the agency resumes adjudication of the Department of Energy license application. In December, the NRC issued a report discussing four options: keeping the existing network in ADAMS and sharing additional documents by means such as mail or email; using the searchable ADAMS LSN Library; moving the library to the Cloud; and rebuilding the network.
A meeting of the LSN Advisory Review Panel was scheduled for Jan. 30-31 to discuss the matter, but last week was pushed back to Feb. 27-28 to give members more time to consider the issue. By Feb. 13, LSNARP members that have ideas with “significantly different technical basis from those discussed in the options paper” should submit information on their proposal, preferably with schedule and expense details, LSNARP Chairman Andrew Bates said in a Jan. 4 letter to Rod McCullum, senior director for used fuel and decommissioning at the Nuclear Energy Institute.
“Additionally, by that same date LSNARP members are invited to provide to the LSNARP Chairman, the Acting LSN Administrator, and the other LSNARP members written comments regarding any options set forth in the December 2017 options paper,” Bates wrote. “While LSNARP members will have the opportunity to submit written comments following the meeting, having comments in hand prior to the meeting will enable a more robust and collaborative discussion.”
