Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
5/16/2014
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) led a chorus of state stakeholders criticizing the lack of state and local input into the decisions behind a utility’s decommissioning plan for commercial reactors during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on nuclear reactor decommissioning held this week. Sanders, whose home state went through negotiations with Entergy late last year on the decommissioning strategy for Vermont Yankee, said the state’s part in the decommissioning process was nothing more than a token role. “At best, currently, states have a token opportunity to provide public comments after the plan is already finalized, but this is not good enough,” Sanders said during the hearing. “In our case, the Vermont Yankee licensee could adopt a decommissioning plan that ignores the needs and interests of Vermonters and the state would have no recourse. That to my mind is unfair and unreasonable.” Sander’s critiques were echoed by Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) who said, “The people who live and work nearby need to have a voice in the decommissioning process.”
Christopher Recchia, a commissioner with the Vermont Public Service Department, testified that the current environment results in the states having “one hand tied behind their back” when negotiating with the utilities. Recchia was the Vermont representative who negotiated with Entergy to ensure the utility would start decommissioning activities as soon as financially possible. “While we are pleased with the agreement reached under the circumstances, our ability to negotiate this agreement, and the necessity to so for the benefit of Vermonters, was hampered by the NRC’s limitations on a state’s involvement in decommissioning, and the lack of responsiveness by the NRC to state concerns at VY and elsewhere,” Recchia said in his opening statement. “In short, Vermont was not served well by the NRC’s past decisions and current approach to decommissioning as an underpinning of these negotiations. We negotiated with one hand tied behind our backs, and did the best we could for Vermonters.”
New Bill Would Increase States’ Role
Sanders and Boxer introduced legislation this week that would expand the role of states in the decision-making behind the decommissioning process. The “Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of 2014” would ensure that states and local communities have a meaningful role in the crafting and preparation of decommissioning plans for retired nuclear plants located in those areas while also requiring the NRC to publicly and transparently approve or reject every proposed decommissioning plan, which it currently is not required to do. “Every state with a nuclear power plant has a strong interest in how that plant is decommissioned,” Sanders said in a statement. “This is about making sure that states and local communities can play a meaningful role in a decision that has enormous economic, environmental, and community impacts.”
States Undermining a Proven Process?
Others during this week’s hearing, though, felt that allowing a larger state impact in the process could undermine the safety requirements the process currently operates under while increasing regulatory burden. “It’s a proven process,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said. “Federal law is supreme law. This process of nuclear regulations is pre-empted by the federal government, and I think there are real problems arising if you give legal power to the states to alter reactor decommissioning and other changes to the reactor after it was established differently in the beginning.” The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is responsible for over-seeing that the decommissioning is done in a safe manner. The NRC’s regulations offer the chance for a public comment session once the licensee submits the Post Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report, and it will take into consideration the concerns raised during that session. Mark Weber, NRC Deputy Executive Director for Operations, Materials, Waste, Research, State, tribal, and Compliance Programs, said that the Commission considered an increased state role after the last wave of reactor decommissioning, but decided “it lacked the safety requirements,” he said.
Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Marvin Fertel told the Committee that the current process works while including states’ and other stakeholders’ views. “The decommissioning process, as overseen by the NRC with input from state and local government, is a proven and appropriate method for ensuring that the decommissioning of nuclear energy facilities is accomplished in a safe, secure and environmentally friendly manner,” Fertel said during his opening statement. “The decommissioning process provides ample opportunities for interaction from state. Local communities and tribes—allowing the public to attend meetings, provide comments and have access to plant-specific decommissioning information.”
