NRC CHAIR SAYS REVISED WASTE CONFIDENCE RULE STILL ON TRACK FOR 2014

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Allison Macfarlane said yesterday the NRC remains on track to complete a revised waste confidence rule in 2014. “I think the date is still achievable. We are still on track to do that,” Macfarlane said in remarks at the Platts Energy Podium in Washington. When the NRC first issued a revised rule in 2010, the Commission extended the length of time assumed to be safe for storage of spent fuel at a reactor site from 30 to 60 years. Last year, though, a federal court found the NRC’s rule “deficient” and mandated an updated version, along with an environmental impact statement. The NRC is expected to release by the end of this week a draft version of the updated rule and EIS for public comment, with the NRC expecting to consider a final EIS by next September.