PHOENIX – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering merging two long-running efforts to update federal regulations on disposal of radioactive waste, a senior official said here Monday.
Agency staff is currently determining the paths forward for both a potential rulemaking on Greater-Than-Class C Waste and the continuing Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Rulemaking, according to Patricia Holahan, director of the NRC Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs.
“As part of that, consideration will be given to potentially combining the Greater-Than-Class C and low-level radioactive waste rulemaking for efficiency,” she said during a panel discussion at the annual Waste Management Symposia.
Holahan noted that GTCC waste is already covered under Part 61 of the Code of Federal Regulations, on licensing requirements for land disposal of radioactive waste, meaning it would be addressed in the other rulemaking.
“It’s more efficient because it will change some of the same parts, and so we could do it simultaneously,” she said.
The commission will receive a report laying out different options for moving forward with the proceedings, Holahan said, without discussing how the combined effort might function.
Currently, staff is responnding to commission directives from 2017 to make several changes to a draft final rule on low-level waste disposal.
The agency has not begun a formal rulemaking on GTCC waste. In a draft regulatory basis issued last July, staff determined that most of the waste type could be safely disposed of by near-surface means – rather than the geologic repository required under current rules unless the commission approves an exemption. It offered three options to the commission: a full rulemaking, retaining the status quo, and a guidance that would maintain the status quo but help potential applicants in seeking an exemption.
