Four Northeast states are calling for better consideration of states’ needs in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decommissioning rulemaking.
The rulemaking, due for completion in 2019, is intended to improve the process for decommissioning of nuclear power reactors, notably by limiting the need for regulatory exemptions on select operational matters such as decommissioning trust funds, emergency preparedness, and physical security. The regulator accepted public comments through June 13.
In comments submitted that day, the four-state coalition of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont said the NRC has not treated their concerns “on equal footing with the viewpoints raised by power reactor licensees and industry representatives. “A rebalancing is in order,” the states said.
For example, the four Northeast states said preliminary comments they filed in 2016 have been largely overlooked in to date. “Many of the States’ suggestions were not addressed at all, and the ones that were addressed were minimized and would not even be mandated,” according to the state filing.
For instance, the states requested that the NRC require nuclear licensees to conduct a full site assessment and characterization before submitting their post-shutdown decommissioning activities report (PSDAR). NRC staff instead suggests only that licensees provide some additional information in the PSDAR.
The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the lobbying arm for the industry, said in its own June 13 comments that it “strongly urges the agency to continue on a path of completing a rulemaking to improve the efficiency of the transition from operations to decommissioning as expeditiously as possible.”
When a nuclear unit is retired, it does not automatically transition to a new regulatory status as a decommissioned reactor, NEI said. Instead, it continues to be regulated according to its operating license until license exemptions and amendments can be approved, which adds to the administrative burden on industry and the regulator.
