Representatives from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Holtec International are scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss the energy technology company’s license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in New Mexico.
The meeting will specifically address the regulator’s request for additional information (RAI) following Holtec’s initial application filing in March 2017.
On Oct. 11, the agency submitted the third part of its first RAI for its technical review, which addresses environmental, safety, and security aspects of the project. This request covers Holtec’s plans for physical security, safeguards, and security training and qualification for its facility. Among the issues addressed in the letter to Holtec: the need for descriptions of the quality assurance program for physical security and how the company will meet reporting requirements under the federal rule on loss of any shipment of spent fuel or special nuclear material.
Holtec has 60 days from the date of the letter to respond to the latest RAI.
The upcoming meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. The specific topic at hand will be Holtec’s responses in May and July to the NRC’s March 28 request for additional information.
The initial license would cover storage of 8,680 metric tons of used fuel, though the Lea County facility’s maximum capacity could reach 173,000 metric tons.
Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of Orano and Waste Control Specialists, has also applied for an NRC license with a maximum capacity of 40,000 metric tons of used fuel. On Friday, the NRC extended through Nov. 19 the comment period for its scoping of the environmental impact statement being prepared as part of the technical review of that project.
Comments can be submitted at www.regulations.gov, Docket ID NRC-2016-0231; by email to [email protected]; or by email to Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
A number of nongovernmental groups have filed petitions with the NRC to intervene in the two license applications proceedings, with two petitions separately seeking dismissal of the applications. The NRC has not yet ruled on any of the petitions, an agency spokesman said Friday.
