The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing an Oregon utility during the COVID-19 pandemic to delay mandatory physical requalifications for security personnel at the spent fuel storage pad for a decommissioned nuclear power plant.
Portland General Electric Co. received notice from the regulator on May 28. The document was posted to the NRC website on Tuesday.
On May 13, Portland General Electric requested the regulatory exemption for the independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) for the former Trojan nuclear power plant near the city of Rainier. The utility said it needed relief from the 12-month schedule for physical requalifications, to avoid face-to-face appointments with medical personnel during the public health emergency. The Trojan ISFSI’s medical provider is also not accepting patients for regular visits, Bradley Jenkins, vice president for utility operations, wrote in the request.
Portland General Electric committed to completing the requalifications as soon as possible, no later than six months past the end of the local, state, and federal emergency declarations. In the interim, all security personnel will undergo an online visual examination by a licensed medical physician.
In its response last week, the NRC said it had determined the regulatory exemption is in line with the Atomic Energy Act and agency regulations; would not undermine life, property, or the common defense; and would not harm the environment.
“This temporary exemption will allow an extension of the physical and medical requalification frequency to allow Trojan ISFSI to complete the required 12-month security personal physical requalification at the first reasonable opportunity and no later than December 31, 2020, or 90 days after the termination of the PHE by the Department of Health and Human Services, whichever occurs first,” wrote John McKirgan, chief of the NRC Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, in a letter to Jenkins.
The federal regulator has during the pandemic offered expedited review of requests from licensees for temporary exemption of regulations. That has included lifting the limits on work-hours at eight nuclear power plants, to ensure reactors remain sufficiently staffed at all times.
The NRC as of Friday had received four requests for exemptions for ISFSIs. It has approved one other request: GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy was allowed an additional two months to file the license renewal application for its Morris Operation facility in Grundy County, Ill. The two other requests were still pending at deadline Friday: Connecticut Yankee Power Co.’s application for a break on annual physical requalifications for security personnel at the decommissioned Haddam Neck site; and the ask from Pacific Gas & Electric to postpone physicals and some training for security personnel at the ISFSI for the decommissioned Humboldt Bay power plant in Eureka, Calif.
Ninety-eight percent of the nearly 3,000-person NRC staff having been working remotely during the federal public health emergency, but the agency has been planning for their gradual return to their offices. There was no update on that process this week.
