The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it would extend the comment period to Nov. 3 on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas.
The 60-day extension is intended to give stakeholders sufficient time to provide input during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The NRC staff intends to host a public webinar later this summer to accept verbal comments on the draft EIS and will provide details in a future Federal Register Notice,” the agency said in an email announcement. “Also, it is the NRC staff’s goal to hold in-person public meetings in the vicinity of the proposed site. As the COVID public health emergency evolves, the NRC staff will continue to evaluate these plans for engaging the public.”
The notice follows a request for an extension from Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas). A group of 60 advocacy groups on July 8 also urged the federal regulator to place the entire proceeding on hold during the health crisis
Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of Orano and Waste Control Specialists, is seeking a 40-year NRC license for storage of up to 5,000 metric tons of spent fuel in Andrews County, Texas. The facility could ultimately hold 40,000 metric tons for up to 120 years.
“Throughout this process, we have supported the NRC in providing ample opportunity for public engagement during the licensing review for our consolidated interim storage facility,” Interim Storage Partners said in a statement Friday. “At the conclusion of this extension, we look forward to confirming the initial favorable NRC staff findings of small to moderate impact in all categories, including land use, transportation, geology and soils, surface water, groundwater, air quality, noise, historic and cultural, visual and scenic, socioeconomic, environmental justice, public and occupational health, and waste management.”
In the draft environmental impact statement issued in May, NRC staff preliminarily recommended approval of the license. Publication of the document started the clock on a 120-day comment period. The agency currently expects by next summer to complete the EIS and other aspects of its technical review of the application, which would be followed by a decision on licensing. However, it has acknowledged potential impacts on that schedule from COVID-19.
The proceeding should be suspended until the end of the federal public health emergency for novel coronavirus 2019, and then extended for 180 days, according to a July 8 letter to the five NRC commissioners from organizations including the Sierra Club, Beyond Nuclear, Public Citizen-Texas, four chapters of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, and Tri-Valley CAREs. The signatories in total represent groups from 22 states.
When it is safe, public meetings should also be conducted in six Texas communities, the letter says: San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, El Paso, Midland, and Andrews. Meetings should also be held in cities that would be along transport routes for the spent fuel from nuclear power plants to Texas, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, New York, Pittsburgh St. Louis, and Salt Lake City.
This week’s NRC-approved extension is “not sufficient,” Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste watchdog for Beyond Nuclear, said by email Thursday. “Our call is for the comment period to be left open indefinitely during the pandemic emergency. Once there is a safe, effective, universally accessible vaccine, at that time we’ve requested another 180 days to make comments, as well as a dozen or two in-person public comment meetings, in TX and a dozen other states along transport routes. Those numbers are what we got from [the Department of Energy on he Yucca Mountain geologic repository] 20 years ago at the DEIS stage. We should get no less on these CISF DEISs.”
The regulator is taking comments through Sept. 22 on the separate draft EIS that also preliminarily recommended approval of a second consolidated interim storage facility planned by Holtec International for Lea County, N.M. The agency review is scheduled for completion by next spring, but is also at the mercy of the pandemic. In March, a similar set of nongovernmental groups called for suspension of that proceeding, which has now been extended twice.
The Sierra Club, Beyond Nuclear, and other organizations have petitioned the NRC for hearings on both license applications, but to date have been rebuffed. Beyond Nuclear and a coalition led by the environmental group Don’t Waste Michigan have appealed the NRC decisions in the Holtec proceeding to a federal appeals court.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is again considering updating rule language on financial assurance for decommissioning of nuclear power plants and other facilities to strip out any reference to credit ratings.
The update is required under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, according to a June 26 memo from NRC Executive Director for Operations Margaret Doane to the commissioners. The document was posted to the agency website on July 10.
The Dodd-Frank Act mandated that all federal agencies review their regulations for any requirement regarding “the use of an assessment of the credit-worthiness of a security … and any references to or requirements in such regulations regarding credit ratings,” Doane noted. That language was then to be removed from the regulations in favor of other means of demonstrating credit-worthiness.
An NRC staff review determined that options under agency regulations for licensees and license applicants to demonstrate that they can pay for a decommissioning project include parent company guarantee or self-guarantee, which partially rely on credit ratings. The section of the Code of Federal Regulations on domestic licensing of byproduct material sets minimum credit ratings necessary to meet financial assurance requirements for materials, power reactor, and non-power reactor licensees, Doane wrote.
Agency staff last July submitted a direct final rule to the commission that “would remove from the NRC’s regulations those requirements that require financial tests that rely in part on credit ratings and retain those requirements that do not require these financial tests.” However, it was withdrawn to allow for stakeholder input on a potential proposed rule.
“This rulemaking would remove any reference to or requirement of reliance on credit ratings and incorporate regulatory changes that reflect new or modified financial test metrics for assessing the credit-worthiness of licensees who choose to use a parent or self guarantee for providing decommissioning financial assurance,” Doane wrote. “The staff would seek mechanisms that meet this need in a manner that maintains the availability these guarantee methods.”
Two options are being considered: updated or all-new metrics for determining credit-worthiness, or a system for NRC staff to identify the credit-worthiness of licensees.
Staff is seeking commission approval to publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register to gather stakeholder input in preparing the new rule. There is no schedule for that to happen, an NRC spokesman said Tuesday.
The comment period would last 75 days and include a public meeting. The commission would be expected to receive a proposed rule within 12 months of the comment period.
The United States Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC) has added seven members to its Board of Directors.
The new members, accoriding to a press release Thursday from the Washington, D.C., industry group, are: Jon Ball, of GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy; Harlan Bowers, of X-Energy; Peter Hastings, of Kairos Power; Scott Kopple, of BWX Technologies; Jeff Merrifield, of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman; Kirk Schnoebelen, of URENCO USA; and Wendy Simon-Pearson, of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp.
They join seven serving board members.
Schnoebelen replaces Richard Goorevich, who left URENCO USA in June to return to the Department of Energy, within its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. Bud Albright also stepped down from the board to become USNIC’s president and CEO in March.
“The expansion of our board is a part of a broader effort and commitment to bring enhanced value to USNIC’s well-established role as the lead organization representing the entire advanced nuclear industry,” Albright said in the release. “Our commitment is to continue to grow our positive impact throughout the advancement of nuclear technology, and to expand U.S. presence throughout the world. ”
The Nuclear Industry Council features more than 80 members from the nuclear industry and adjacent sectors, including Amentum, Bechtel, Centrus Energy, Fluor, Southern Nuclear Co., and Westighouse.
“The Council’s Board solicited our Members for nominations and vetted the candidates to determine who would bring the greatest value to the Membership,” USNIC Chief Operating Officer Caleb Ward said by email Friday. “The slate of additions included in our email were approved unanimously by the full membership. ”
From The Wires
From KUNR: University of Nevada research raises questions about water flow at site of planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
From Reuters: Nevada considers import of radioactive waste from Estonia for processing.
From The Mainichi: Japanese nuclear regulator finds incorrect storage of nuclear waste at Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. facility.
From the Bismarck Tribune: Montana Department of Environmental Quality faces legal action over application for disposal of TENORM waste.
