Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
4/3/2015
While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had pushed for completion of its rulemaking by 2019, that timeline would be “extremely challenging,” according to an NRC staff SECY paper released this week. In the NRC’s Staff Related Memorandum that initiated the rulemaking, the Commission directed staff to complete the rulemaking by 2019, but according to the staff that would be an ambitious schedule. “The staff plans to conduct the rulemaking expeditiously and issue the final rule as soon as practicable,” the Jan. 30 SECY paper said. “However, it will be extremely challenging to complete the decommissioning rulemaking in early 2019 without impacting the current decommissioning and non-decommissioning emergency planning licensing activities because of competing skill sets needed for both activities. To provide for timely progress on both activities, the staff will initially conduct preliminary rulemaking activities in parallel with the licensing actions, and increase its focus on the rulemaking as the licensing actions are completed.” Staff also estimated that the rulemaking would require 25 full-time equivalents and $2 million in contract support.
The Staff identified preliminary tasks that could expedite the process, but 2020 still seems like the realistic end date for the rulemaking. “The preliminary activities include continuing to develop lessons learned that will support the rulemaking regulatory basis, consulting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), identifying resource needs, and developing a detailed schedule for the rulemaking effort,” the paper said. “The staff anticipates this approach will help expedite the rulemaking process but that there is a high likelihood that the final rule may not be issued until sometime in calendar year (CY) 2020.”
The Commission directed its staff at the end of last year to begin a rulemaking to better address the NRC’s role in regulating decommissioning power plants, with an end date tentatively set for 2019. Currently, the NRC does not have regulations that reflect the decreased security and safety threat posed by a reactor undergoing decommissioning. Instead, a series of license amendments is needed to exempt the plants, a step that can prove costly and timely for both utilities and the NRC. According to the Commission’s staff requirements memorandum, the staff should focus on a wide variety of issues in its rulemaking that affect decommissioning plants, including the appropriate amount of NRC involvement in the Post Shutdown Decommissioning Activity Report, as well as the role of state and local government in the process, among other things.
