As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission navigates some internal controversy surrounding a recently-approved decommissioning rule, its oversight of plant dismantlement came under fire Wednesday at a hearing in the Senate.
“[W]ith its recent approval of the proposed decommissioning rule, I fear the NRC now stands for not recognizing [public] concerns,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) at Tuesday’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing. “The NRC has decided that the best way to shield itself from criticism around the decommissioning process is to take itself out of the process.”
Markey was referring to proposed changes to NRC’s decommissioning guidance, which the commission approved 2-1 on Nov. 2. The proposed rules change lowers certain regulatory barriers for nuclear plant operators transitioning their sites to decommissioning, such as safety and emergency preparedness measures the agency deemed unnecessary for shuttered reactors.
In particular, Markey took issue with the fact that the decommissioning rule doesn’t require NRC to approve plant operators post-shutdown decommissioning activities reports (PSDARs).
“[O]ur independent nuclear safety regulator would serve as a glorified filing cabinet,” Markey said. “Ceding the job of regulation to the nuclear industry itself is not a win for safety or communities or for the energy sector,” he said.
NRC chairman Christopher Hanson responded that his agency can direct licensees to correct deficiencies in their PSDARs if they are “lacking in any way.” The commission “prohibit[s] undertaking any decommissioning activities until those deficiencies are addressed,” Hanson said.
The agency does not formally approve PSDARs, Hanson said, but it conducts a “review for consistency.”
“[F]rom my perspective, check-the-box exercises aren’t enough,” Markey said. “This needs to be a process that takes into account the accuracy of those plans, not just the completion of those plans, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has to sign off on them as part of the process.”
Tuesday’s hearing also touched on some of the intra-commission disagreement about the scope and scale of the proposed decommissioning rule. Committee ranking member Sen. Shelly Capito (R-W.V.) expressed concern that “a commissioner’s recent and persistent social media comments will have an adverse impact on NRC career staff’s work.”
Commissioner Jeff Baran, who opposed the decommissioning rule, took to Twitter Nov. 2 to express his dissatisfaction with its approval. The change, he said, “tip[s] the regulation” in favor of industry and away from NRC. Baran’s Tweets are nearly identical in content to his written dissent that accompanied his vote.
“Staff should be able to make recommendations in an unbiased manner without fear that members of the commission will take to social media to suggest that staff recommendations are designed to weaken or roll back nuclear safety,” Capito said.
The proposed rule didn’t come up in Baran’s opening remarks Tuesday, but commissioner David Wright took a swipe at his colleague, saying that he did not agree with “recent media statements and social media posts regarding NRC decisions and rulemakings suggesting that the staff’s recommendations are not safe, or simply reflect the industry viewpoint.”
“The staff’s findings on matters before the NRC are based on data and expertise and experience, and are informed by input from external stakeholders,” Wright said. “While there may be different policy views on those recommendations, each recommendation that staff provides the commission meets the NRC’s standards.”
