Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
10/16/2015
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to table for five years a proposed rulemaking on security requirements for facilities storing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, according to a staff requirements memorandum released last week. The NRC had initiated the rulemaking to apply “radiological dose-based regulatory approach to all independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSI) using release-fraction values specified by the NRC,” a staff SECY paper said.
NRC staff, though, indicated that due to competing priorities within the commission and possible changes as a result of the NRC’s decommissioning rulemaking as to whether the rules should only apply to active reactors, it would be more prudent to delay this rulemaking beyond its December 2015 deadline. According to staff, the technical approach to the rulemaking “would need to be reanalyzed based on progress of the decommissioning rulemaking, completion of the ongoing MELCOR analysis [computer code that models the progression of severe accidents], and further clarity on the development of the domestic spent nuclear fuel management strategy.”
Ultimately, all four commissioners approved the delay.
“The Commission has approved the staff’s recommendation to delay for a period of five years the commencement of a proposed rulemaking on security requirements for facilities storing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste,” the NRC said in its SRM. “At the end of the five-year period, the staff should re-evaluate whether rulemaking in this area is warranted. However, the staff notes several scenarios, including its evaluation in the context of the Project Aim re-baselining, under which the staff would accelerate this rulemaking.”
The NRC said that with existing regulations and its post-Sept. 11 security requirements, the ISFSIs remain protective of human health and the environment. “First and foremost, as stated previously, the existing security requirements for ISFSIs, together with the additional requirements in the post 9/11 security orders, provide continued high assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety regardless of the license type or location,” staff wrote in its SECY paper. “These orders remain in effect even if the agency does not proceed with further rulemaking. Additionally, triennial security inspections for ISFSIs that commenced in 2012 ensure industry compliance with all current requirements. Not pursuing the subject rulemaking would leave in place two different licensing approaches for security of ISFSIs, general and specific.”
