The interested public now has until the end of the summer to provide their feedback on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed rules change for decommissioning nuclear power plants, the agency said Tuesday.
August 30 is now the deadline for comments on NRC’s proposed decommissioning rulemaking, the agency said in presentation slides for an upcoming public meeting about the rule. NRC previously said it would accept comments through May 17.
As of Tuesday, that deadline change had not yet been announced in the Federal Register.
The proposed rule, which the commission approved on a 2-1 vote in November, would reduce certain NRC-mandated emergency preparedness and safety requirements for nuclear plant operators transitioning their facilities to decommissioning. The change is aimed at streamlining the process by lowering regulatory barriers that the commission said don’t reflect “lower safety hazard[s]” when a plant is being dismantled.
The decommissioning rule was the subject of some internal debate among NRC’s three commissioners. Commissioner Jeff Baran, who voted against the proposed rule’s approval in the fall, argued at the time that the change was “laissez-faire” and that it tipped the regulatory balance towards industry and away from the agency. NRC chairman Christopher Hanson pushed back on that assertion in an interview with Exchange Monitor in November.
The commission on Wednesday was scheduled to host a public meeting in San Luis Obispo, Calif., to discuss the proposed decommissioning rule. A similar meeting is scheduled for May 9 in Plymouth, Mass.
