Waste Control Specialists delivered on Wednesday a second round of responses to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s request for supplemental information (RSI) concerning the company’s planned consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas.
According to the document, WCS has now responded to 83 percent of the 104 items NRC included in its RSI, with the company clarifying details for the facility’s safety analysis report (21 items) and physical security plan (11 items) on Wednesday. WCS submitted its first round of responses on July 20, addressing 54 items and clarifying capacity details for the nuclear waste facility.
The NRC in July determined that WCS’ 3,000-page license application to build and operate the facility lacked the technical detail required for the agency to conduct its full license application review, prompting the RSIs. WCS intends to build the 40,000-metric-ton-capacity facility, with a 40-year NRC license, above ground near the New Mexico border. The facility will require both a vertical cask transporter and a canister transfer system.
WCS President and CEO Rod Baltzer wrote in a blog post Thursday that the company aims to “make this the most transparent licensing process possible.” The company this week added a webpage dedicated to its application filings with the NRC.
Baltzer in the latest NRC filing clarified that WCS is requesting authorization to use only NRC-approved storage canister designs. The company has amended its safety analysis report, proposed technical specifications, and proposed license conditions to clarify this point. He said WCS anticipates preparing a consolidated, updated version of those documents, as well as the environmental report, once the RSI responses are fully completed, which is expected in October.
Waste Control Specialists is competing with Holtec International to open the first consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Holtec plans to submits its own application to NRC in November for a 70,000-metric-ton capacity underground facility about 12 miles from the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad.
The facilities could fall under the Department of Energy’s consent-based siting process, which is the Obama administration’s alternative to canceled plans for a geologic repository for nuclearw waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Department of Energy envisions a pilot storage facility by 2021; one or more larger, interim facilities by 2025; and finally at least one permanent geologic repository by 2048. The Nuclear Energy Institute in its public comments to the department regarding consent-based siting suggested DOE not collaborate with the private entities, instead focusing on its own efforts. DOE acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy John Kotek has since said that’s an area the department needs to “work out.”
WCS is scheduled to file responses to seven additional RSI items with the NRC on Sept. 30 and 11 items on Oct. 31.
