The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is taking public comment through June 5 on a request for an update to federal regulations regarding storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel.
Ray Lutz, and his California watchdog group Citizens’ Oversight, filed the petition for rulemaking on Title 10, Part 72, of the Code of Regulations in January. His concern is that existing rules on licensing for independent storage of spent fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and reactor-related Greater-Than-Class C Waste are not sufficient given that the waste could remain on-site at nuclear power plants for an indefinite period of time.
“The petitioners observe that 10 CFR part 72 was initially developed at a time when a repository was anticipated to be available in 1998 and, therefore, this [petition for rulemaking] would address concerns with a much longer time frame for surface storage,” the NRC said in a March 22 notice in the Federal Register.
The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the Department of Energy by Jan. 31, 1998, to begin accepting spent fuel from nuclear reactors for permanent disposal. The federal agency has yet to build a repository for the material.
Lutz is seeking 14 specific updates to the Code of Federal Regulations, including that spent fuel storage systems be required to have a 1,000-year design life, and that operating-expense and safety-margin estimates for the design life be mandatory.
The entire petition can be found on the NRC’s ADAMS document database under accession number ML18022B207.
Comments can be submitted through several means: at http://www.regulations.gov, under Docket ID NRC–2018–0017; by email to [email protected]; by fax, to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 301– 415–1101; by mail, to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff; or in person, to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852.
