March 17, 2014

WASTE CONFIDENCE ON TRACK ALTHOUGH LEGAL CHALLENGES LOOM

By ExchangeMonitor

NRC Commissioner William Magwood said yesterday at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Information Conference that the Commission’s Waste Confidence update remains on track, although he anticipates more legal challenges to “whatever we come up with.” “We are on track for this fall that that process for Waste Confidence should be over,” Magwood said. “We have received all the comments, and we’ll be in a position to move forward with the licensing activities that were suspended while Waste Confidence was sorted out. I don’t think the completion will be the end of this story. I suspect we will see more challenges to whatever we come up with, but I’m confident the staff has done a very solid job. Our legal staff has looked very closely at it, and I think we are on a good path to bring this to a resolution for this fall,” he said.

The NRC’s proposed waste confidence ruling, released in June, found that spent fuel can be stored on site for 60 years past a reactor’s licensed life. When the NRC first issued a revised waste confidence rule in 2010, the Commission extended the length of time assumed to be safe for storage of spent fuel at a reactor site from 30 to 60 years. Last year, though, a federal court found the NRC’s rule deficient and mandated an updated version, along with an environmental impact statement. The public comment period lasted for 98 days, ending on Dec. 20, 2013. The NRC received more than 33,000 written comments along with comments at 13 public meetings, and it should have a final ruling by Oct. 3, the NRC said.

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