Chris Schneidmiller
RW Monitor
11/20/2015
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday announced plans to update its regulations for nuclear reactors undergoing decommissioning.
In a Federal Register notice, the commission said it was seeking input from stakeholders on a draft regulatory basis for possible changes to NRC regulations on nuclear reactor decommissioning. “The new rule would establish clear requirements for decommissioning reactors in emergency preparedness, physical security, and fitness-for-duty, among other areas, thereby reducing the need for exemptions from current requirements designed for operating reactors,” according to an NRC press release. “It would also address the timeliness of decommissioning and the role of state and local governments and other organizations. The result would be a more efficient, open and reliable decommissioning process.”
The NRC updated its rules for reactor decommissioning in 1996 to provide clarity on the regulations, broaden processes that previously had been used on a case-by-case basis, and ensure the public had an increased role in the process. A rulemaking initiated in the late 1990s – aimed at eliminating or revising select rules in areas such as emergency readiness, safeguards, and insurance based on the understanding that decommissioning reactors pose a lower threat for release of radiological material than do operating sites – was suspended following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
At the time, NRC staff did not anticipate additional permanent reactor closures “in the foreseeable future,” reducing the necessity of updating the rules, the Federal Register notice says. However, five power-producing reactors have shut down, defueled, and proceeded to decommissioning since 2013, the NRC noted. Another three are expected to close by 2019 – energy company Entergy alone has announced the closure of two nuclear power plants since October.
Exemptions have proven to be a heated issue at some closed plants. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), for example, has repeatedly lashed the NRC for issuing emergency preparedness exemptions to the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station while spent nuclear fuel remains at the facility.
The specific goals of the new rule would sustain sufficient defenses for public health and safety and security of the sites undergoing decommissioning; ensure clear and correct rules for such operations; codify matters that apply generally to any site being decommissioned; and “identify, define, and “resolve” other matters of concern on the rules for decommissioning, according to the NRC.
The NRC is accepting public comment on the potential rules update through Jan. 4. Comments can be submitted in various ways: through the federal rulemaking website, www.regulations.gov, under DOCKET ID NRC-2015-0070; by email to [email protected]; by fax to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, at 301-415-1101; by mail to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0111, ATTN.: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; or in person to HRC headquarters, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md., between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m.
A public meeting on the matter is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, in the NRC’s Commission Hearing Room at agency headquarters.
