The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asking a federal appeals court to dismiss a petition challenging its sole authority to regulate disposal of very low-level radioactive waste (VLLW) from nuclear power plants in the agency’s agreement states.
The Nuclear Energy Institute missed the 60-day window to file a petition against the agency’s final determination of authority, according to a Feb. 10 motion from attorneys for the NRC and Department of Justice in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. While the Washington, D.C.-based industry trade group cited a September 2019 letter from the regulator in its December petition, that letter simply reaffirms the NRC’s stance since 2012, the motion says.
The “2019 Letter is a routine, informational document by the NRC responding to a request by NEI to alter the position that the NRC had expressed in both 2012 and 2016,” federal attorneys wrote. “In that sense, the 2019 Letter breaks no new ground and imposes no new binding legal requirements; it simply reaffirms the agency’s previously announced position. Such a workaday communication does not constitute a reviewable final order.”
In a 2012 letter, and then in Regulatory Issue Summary 2016-11 four years later, the NRC reversed a 1986 interpretation on federal regulations for alternative disposal of low-level waste. In short, the agency said it was wrong 34 years ago when it said it did not have legal standing to review and approve requests for VLLW disposal from nuclear power plants in agreement states.
Agreement states assume much of the agency’s authority to regulate use of byproduct materials within their borders. However, that does not cover licensing or oversight of nuclear power plants.
The Nuclear Energy Institute had not commented on the federal motion by deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
