The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the public comment period for a license application to export 10,000 tons of radioactive material from Oak Ridge, Tenn., to Canada, after fielding concerns from a New York lawmaker.
Massachusetts-based UniTech Services Group in October 2016 filed an application with the NRC to import and export the radioactive material from Ontario, Canada, and then ship it back after the items had been decontaminated at the company’s Oak Ridge Service Center. The material is described in NRC documents as tools, metal, and other solid products of varying composition that have been contaminated with byproduct material and incidental amounts of special nuclear material. UniTech specializes in decontamination of protective clothing, tools, and metal, and the company purchased the Oak Ridge Service Center from Babcock Services in the fall 2016.
The NRC has declined to offer exact details on the application as the matter remains under litigation. Anti-nuclear groups Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Beyond Nuclear objected to the proposal in an April 6 filing with the commission.
Because Tennessee is an agreement state with the NRC, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation regulates the facility. While the NRC directed questions to the state agency for specifics concerning the waste shipments, department spokesman Eric Ward declined to offer details in an email Thursday, saying export activity is the NRC’s responsibility.
“TDEC does not have any authority to review or approve of radioactive waste being exported from Oak Ridge,” Ward said. “The NRC has the program and jurisdiction.”
UniTech officially applied for import-export authorization, but the NRC on March 30 notified the company that it did not need an import license, as the material does not qualify as radioactive waste and is already permitted under existing general import license regulations. The NRC is still evaluating the export license application.
The Anti-nuclear groups requested that the NRC reconsider its decision, saying the regulator had granted a general import license to UniTech without offering the opportunity for a public hearing. The NRC responded that the petitioners fundamentally misunderstood the regulator’s decision to take no action on the import request. UniTech’s proposed activities are authorized under existing law, without the need for a specific license, the NRC said.
“Requesters fail to grasp the concept of a ‘general license,’” the NRC stated in a recent filing. “This failed understanding incurably taints the arguments put forward by Requesters.”
The NRC’s decision to extend the public comment period from mid-March to May 5 followed a request from Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), who has kept close tabs on planned shipments of highly enriched uranium target residue material from Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario to the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C.
“I was concerned to learn of another proposed plan to transport enormous quantities of nuclear material without providing stakeholders with adequate time to assess the full scope and safety of transport and processing activities, as well as the potential risk to our environment,” Higgins wrote in a letter to the NRC on March 20.
He requested the extension to allow for “robust public participation” in the application process.
