The Nuclear Regulatory Commission greenlit Wednesday a proposed rule aimed at streamlining the decommissioning process for nuclear power operators, the agency said in a statement.
The newly-approved rule would implement “specific regulatory requirements” for reducing agency-mandated safety and emergency preparedness protocols at nuclear power plants that become unnecessary when the site is being decommissioned, NRC said in its Wednesday statement. Previously, the agency had to issue rules exemptions and license amendments to remove these hurdles, the statement said.
The rule passed on a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Jeff Baran dissenting. Baran said in a Tweet Wednesday that the new guidance “misses the mark,” and that it tilts regulatory authority over decommissioning towards industry and away from NRC and stakeholders.
Although the commission approved the proposed reduction in safety regulations, it rejected a proposed rules change from NRC staff that would have allowed plant operators to use their sites’ decommissioning trust funds for spent fuel management. The commission also tossed a staff recommendation to remove a required federal review of licensees’ irradiated fuel management programs.
NRC will open a 75-day public comment period on the new proposed rule “several weeks from now,” the Wednesday statement said.
The commission first directed staff to start working on the decommissioning rule in 2014. Since then, its publication has been the subject of some delay. The rule was initially supposed to go live in 2019, but was delayed until this year.
