By John Stang
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday unveiled a set of proposed rules for nuclear reactors making the transition from operations to decommissioning.
The recommendations developed by NRC staff are intended to reduce the need for nuclear plant operators to request exemptions to federal regulations or license amendments for facilities that pose a reduced danger for accidents or radiation releases. In the proposal, NRC staff said relaxed regulations are appropriate for reactors that are closed and defueled.
“In several areas of the current regulations, there is no means to distinguish provisions that apply to a power reactor that has permanently ceased operations from provisions that apply to an operating power reactor. To address this potential confusion, the NRC is proposing to amend its regulations to provide a sustainable regulatory framework for the transition to decommissioning,” according to a nearly 300-page draft Federal Register notice that would be published upon approval from the commission.
The NRC staff estimated the federal government, nuclear industry, and society could save roughly $18.8 million in decommissioning costs, at 7 percent net present value if the new rules are adopted. Just under $7.75 million of that would derive from updated emergency preparedness requirements.
One example of opportunities for savings: Nuclear operators would have to prepare and submit fewer rule exemption and license amendment requests, meaning NRC staff would have to review fewer submissions.
Broadly, the proposed rules cover emergency preparedness, physical security, cybersecurity, drug and alcohol testing, training requirements for certified fuel handlers, decommissioning trust funds, financial protection requirements and indemnity agreements, and application of the backfit rule.
On emergency preparedness, the proposed rules would set four stages of measures that become less strict as decommissioning progresses and ends. The stages are: post-shutdown emergency plan, permanent reactor defueling plan, independent spent fuel storage installation-only plan, and no plan required.
The proposed changes also include allowing licensees to use money in their decommissioning trust funds to move and temporarily store used reactor fuel on-site. Also, if a licensee identifies a potential financial shortfall in the decommissioning work, it must find ways to provide the needed money.
The proposal would also allow select power reactor licensees in decommissioning to lower the insurance amounts they are required to maintain without obtaining exemptions from the NRC’s regulations.
Among the other proposals:
- Cybersecurity requirements would remain in place until used fuel in wet storage had decayed to the point at which it could not ignite “within 10 hours under adiabatic heatup conditions.” The cybersecurity license condition could be removed after that point.
- Increasing the current 20-day period to 45 days for notification of receipt of shipments of low-level radioactive waste.
- On physical security during decommissioning, a certified fuel handler would be able to temporarily suspend security measures during certain emergency conditions or during severe weather.
The next step would be for the commission to affirm or request changes to the proposal, which is expected several months from now. That would be followed by a 75-day public input period that will help shape the final document. The commission is expected to vote on that document in fall 2019. It would go into effect the following year.
The proposed rules package quickly drew the ire of Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who likened it to “an industry wish list.”
Markey noted in a press release that 20 commercial reactors are being decommissioned, with another 10 scheduled between 2019 and 2050, including the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts.
In February, Markey and three other senators sponsored a bill that would require every reactor operator comply with an NRC-approved plan on removing and storing used nuclear fuel within seven years of submitting such a plan to the federal agency.
“This is a missed opportunity to put down a marker for smarter decommissioning, and I urge the Commission to strengthen this draft rule to ensure safety not expediency is paramount,” he said in a prepared statement.
Markey’s office did not respond to requests for additional detail about his concerns.
