WASHINGTON — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could approve changes to rules governing disposal of Greater-Than-Class-C waste by the end of the year, the head of the agency said here Wednesday.
As for exactly when the commission will act, “I’m not sure,” Christopher Hanson, the newly reconfirmed chair of the civilian nuclear regulator told the Exchange Monitor on the sidelines of the Monitor’s second annual Nuclear Energy Security Summit.
The proposed changes to Part 61 of NRC’s rules outline a way the agency could allow states already licensed to dispose of low-level radioactive waste to dispose of Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) waste in near-surface facilities.
Commission staff sent the proposed rule changes to the NRC on May 29. Earlier this year, staff estimated that it could take until November 2025 for the NRC to publish a final rule. That would be about a decade after Texas kicked off the process that produced May’s proposed rule by asking the NRC if states that regulate low-level waste can also regulate GTCC.
NRC will accept public comments on the proposed rule before finalizing the rule.
GTCC is a legal category that includes activated metals from nuclear power reactors, sealed sources, waste from manufacturing of radioisotope products, and material from the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup in New York state.
As written, NRC’s rules require that GTCC go to a deep geologic repository such as the moribund Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., which decades after its authorization by Congress is still not developed due to presidential politics.
Under agreements with the NRC, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington state all regulate low-level waste-disposal sites.
Earlier this year, the local government in Andrews County, Texas, home of Waste Control Specialists’ radioactive waste disposal complex, passed a resolution banning storage of GTCC in the county. Waste Control Specialists operates a state-owned disposal site on its premises, where GTCC could be stored.
