The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pushed back to this fall the expected submission of a report on the potential path forward for two rules proceedings for disposal of radioactive waste, a senior official said Tuesday.
Earlier this year, the report had been anticipated this summer.
“That’s being pushed back slightly. It’ll probably be in the early fall, September-October time frame,” according to Patricia Holahan, director of the NRC’s Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs. She attributed the delay to workload challenges.
The paper will go to the five NRC commissioners for consideration, Holahan added during a session at the American Nuclear Society’s virtual Utility Working Conference.
Speaking at a separate industry event in March, Holahan said one potential option would be combining the “Part 61” low-level radioactive waste rulemaking and the Greater-Than-Class C proceeding, for efficiency.
The over 11-year-old Part 61 rulemaking is aimed at updating federal regulations for land disposal of low-level radioactive waste, particularly to address depleted uranium and other waste streams not covered in the original rule. Staff is currently reworking a draft final rule following directions in September 2017 from the commission to make changes including re-applying a 1,000-year compliance period featured in the proposed rule and applying the updated regulations solely to facilities due to take significant levels of depleted uranium.
The five-person commission continues to consider a draft regulatory basis for a potential rulemaking on Greater-Than-Class C Waste. Existing regulations generally require that this waste type be placed in a geologic disposal facility, which is not available. While the commission can authorize an exemption for a separate disposal pathway, it has never received such a request. In the July 2019 draft regulatory basis, NRC staff said most GTCC waste forms were safe for near-surface disposal and put forward three options for addressing the existing regulatory framework: maintaining the present rules; preparing a new guidance without revising those regulations; and conducting a comprehensive rulemaking to develop regulations specifically for placing GTCC waste in a low-level radioactive waste facility.
