Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
6/27/2014
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week withdrew its direct final ruling issued in April that would have enabled the storage of high burnup spent nuclear fuel in Areva’s Standardized Advanced NUHOMS Horizontal Modular Storage System. Areva was seeking an amendment to its certificate of compliance for its storage casks, but the final ruling drew criticism from the public. During the public comment period, a group of 20 environmental activist organizations issued a comment against the ruling focused on the Safety Evaluation Report finding that they claim would enable the casks to be used for transportation of high burnup spent fuel. According to a Federal Register notice this week, “Although this amendment does not approve the transportation of high burnup fuel, in this instance the NRC considers this comment to be a significant adverse comment as defined in Section I, Procedural Background, of the direct final rule because the comment raises an issue serious enough to warrant a substantive response to clarify or complete the record,” it said. “Therefore, the NRC is withdrawing the direct final rule.” The NRC will address and clarify the issue in its final rulemaking, which is expected at the end of this summer, but it will seek an additional public comment period.
Diane Curran, the lead attorney who submitted the comment for the environmental collaboration, said in her comment that the NRC failed to overtly identify the safety and environmental implications of passing the generic decision. “Because the Direct Rule provides misleading and incomplete information, and because it takes significant substantive action with safety and environmental implications, it should be withdrawn,” Curran said in her comment. “If the NRC decides to go ahead with the proposed approval of the expanded use of the 32PT DSC, it should publish a proposed rule and seek public comment in advance of taking action. The proposed rule should fully describe the nature of the proposed licensing action and explain its safety and environmental implications, including preparation of a SER and an EA. The proposed rule should address the inconsistency of the proposed generic approval of the 32PT DSC for storage and transportation of high burnup spent fuel with ISG-11.”
Areva, for its part, sees the move as an NRC process challenge, not a reflection of a technical deficiency, the company said. The procedure, Areva said, does not change the application nor does it imply that the NRC will reject the request. “This is a normal licensing process that allows for public involvement,” said Mike McMahon, senior vice president of AREVA TN Americas. “It is the NRC’s responsibility to respond to questions raised by organizations and individuals and as such ensures the continued high level of safe performance of used fuel storage and transportation.”
