CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Nuclear industry representatives voiced concerns Monday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 2019 decommissioning rulemaking could force unnecessary burdens on current facility decommissioning projects.
Southern California Edison (SCE) has received everything it needs from NRC’s exemption process to proceed with decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, but the company will require further regulatory action, Jim Madigan, SCE CNO technical adviser and director of oversight of regulatory affairs and nuclear safety culture, said during a panel discussion at Nuclear Energy Insider’s Nuclear Decommissioning and Used Fuel Strategy Summit.
“We could be hit with some unnecessary delays moving forward if it gets rather complicated with the things being asked for in the rulemaking process,” Madigan said.
The 2019 rulemaking is the regulator’s effort to improve the decommissioning process, with a focus on reducing the need for safety exemptions at closed nuclear power plants. The NRC expects to deliver a rule proposal in April 2018.
Entergy Nuclear Decommissioning Director Paul Paradis, who also appeared on the panel, voiced support for the current regulatory scheme, saying it’s predictable.
“We know what the (exemption) costs are, what they’re going to be,” Paradis said. “We know what the NRC is going to do when. We may not like the time frame, but it’s predictable. So from a changes in rulemaking perspective, we don’t want that predictability to go away. We want it to get better.”
Following the conference, Paradis said in a phone interview that utilities want the regulatory process improved, not for it to “go backwards.”
“There’s a lot of intervenors in the rulemaking, and some of them, they’re interested is just making decommissioning and nuclear power in general harder, so they don’t necessarily care whether NRC streamlines the process,” he said.
Paradis noted that lawmakers and citizens are requesting that NRC get rid of its 60-year SAFSTOR decommissioning option, to speed up the decommissioning process, and stop issuing emergency planning zone exemptions. Lawmakers from Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut recently asked the agency to uphold all emergency preparedness and response requirements at shuttered nuclear power plants until spent fuel is moved into dry storage, which would cost utilities millions in continued costs.
The NRC in issuing such exemptions has reasoned that closed facilities pose a lower safety risk than operating plants, while concerned residents and lawmakers contend that safety risks remain high until fuel is moved into dry storage.
NRC Deputy Director for the Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and Waste Programs Andrea Kock responded to the industry comments on a separate panel Monday, saying the rulemaking will provide more certainty and clarity in the decommissioning exemption process.
“I would encourage you, in the meantime, before the rule is finalized, that you look at precedent from previous exemptions that have been approved,” she said, adding that utilities should study the types of questions NRC had when clarifying information on previous exemption requests.
She noted that the NRC recently issued a report on lessons learned from decommissioning nuclear plants. One important takeaway from the report, she said, is that early engagement is key to removing redundancy from the decommissioning process. She encouraged utilities to share decommissioning plans and estimates as early in the process as possible.
