The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is preparing a new strategic plan to guide its operations from fiscal years 2018 to 2022.
The is the seventh volume of the regulator’s strategic plan, which must be updated every four years, and is not a major departure from the document covering fiscal 2014 to 2018, according to an NRC press release.
“The draft establishes a framework for the next four years for the NRC to achieve its mission to license and regulate the nation’s civilian use of radioactive materials to provide reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety, and to promote the common defense and security (and to protect the environment),” the release says. “It also provides an overview of the NRC’s responsibilities, key challenges and management priorities, and it outlines the objectives and key activities to achieve the agency’s goals.”
The full version of the document can be found on the NRC website, along with prior strategic plans.
Among the activities listed to help the agency meet its commitment to ensuring the safe and secure use of radioactive materials:
- “Improve the regulatory framework, analytical tools, and data needed to ensure the safe and secure storage, transportation, and disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste”; and
- “Enhance and implement nuclear reactor, material, spent nuclear fuel storage, and radioactive waste oversight programs to ensure the timely identification of safety issues and that licensees take the actions necessary to maintain acceptable safety performance.”
An NRC spokesperson said the document’s language on spent nuclear fuel is largely identical to prior strategic plans. NRC staff did remove wording on implementing recommendations for a license process improvement program on spent fuel storage and transportation, as the effort is expected to be mostly completed shortly, the spokesperson said.
Comments are being accepted on the draft plan to Oct. 26. They can be submitted via the federal government’s rulemaking website, Docket ID NRC-2017-0153; or by mail to Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-08-E18, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
The NRC has until Feb. 5, 2018, to submit the finished version of the plan to Congress and the president. Staff anticipates delivering the final plan for review by the commission by Nov. 23, and to the White House Office of Management and Budget by Dec. 15.
NRC Available Nuclear Waste Fund Balance Dips Below $600K
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as of August had less than $600,000 in available, unobligated funds for its work on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
The regulator is waiting to see whether Congress will approve its request for $30 million in fiscal 2018 to resume adjudication activities for the Department of Energy license application for the Nye County, Nev., facility. The House approved the request in its energy appropriations bill, while Senate appropriators zeroed out all DOE and NRC funding for Yucca in its version of the legislation, which is awaiting a floor vote.
In the interim, the NRC is following an August 2013 federal court order to proceed with the licensing process for Yucca Mountain even after the Obama administration suspended the project. The agency in the last four years has spent nearly $12.9 million of the $13.5 million from the Nuclear Waste Fund that was available at the time of the court ruling, topped by more than $8.3 million to finish its safety evaluation report for the site.
That includes $114,137 spent in August, according to the latest Nuclear Waste Fund update from the NRC to Congress. More than $110,000 of that was spent on knowledge management reports that provide technical information to assist in the review of Yucca Mountain. Most of the remaining spending was split almost evenly between federal litigation and program planning and support.
“During the month of August, the NRC staff continued updating the collection of knowledge management reports. These reports will contain technical topics, including climate and hydrology, in preclosure and postclosure safety assessments,” according to the NRC update. “Also in August, in accordance with records management requirements, the NRC staff conducted additional document retention activities, including archiving information used in preparation of the NRC staff’s Yucca Mountain licensing documents.”
The agency’s total unspent Nuclear Waste Fund balance stood at $672,588 in August; that encompassed $95,054 in unexpended obligations, leaving $577,534 available to spend.
Exelon Generation Co. plans to withdraw more than $4 million from the decommissioning trusts for its Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear plants in Illinois, primarily to cover expenses accrued last year when it anticipated closing the facilities.
The majority of the costs were incurred for decommissioning planning between the time of the announced closure of the power plants in June 2016 and Exelon’s declaration last December that they would remain open after the state government approved an energy subsidy package, according to a Sept. 19 letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from Danu Thomas, vice president of Northern Trust Co.
The letter did not provide details of the decommissioning activities conducted last year, and Exelon did not respond to a request for comment.
“The decommissioning planning performed to support the shutdown has been preserved and will be used in planning for decommissioning of Clinton and Quad Cities, Units 1 and 2 in the future,” Thomas wrote to William Dean, director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
Exelon intends to disburse $856,790.50 from the trust for Quad Cities Unit 1, covering $855,500.50 in 2016 costs and $1,290 in prior-year expenses; $857,041.75 from the trust for Quad Cities Unit 1, for $855,751,75 in 2016 costs and $1,290 in prior-year expenses; and $2.6 million from the Clinton trust, $2.2 million for 2016 costs and $326,519.81 in prior-year expenses.
The NRC had 30 working days from the date of the letter to raise objections to the disbursements.
Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is accepting public input through Nov. 30 on the draft version of its latest update to the five-year plan toward development of a geologic repository for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel.
The NWMO expects by 2023 to select the single site for construction of the repository 500 meters below the Earth’s surface that would hold what is expected to be as many as 5.4 million spent fuel bundles from over 50 years and counting of nuclear power operations in Canada. The facility is due to become operational at some point from 2040 to 2045.
The Implementing Adaptive Phased Management document is updated every year, with the newest draft covering 2018-2022.
“As our work has become more focused, so too has this year’s planning document. This evolution of our plans and the way we present them will continue over the coming years,” said Lisa Frizzell, NWMO vice president for stakeholder relations, in a prepared statement. “We hope people find the plan easy to review and comment on.”
The NWMO will use the comments it receives to update and finalize the document, and will report on the status of work next year in its annual report.
From The Wires
From the San Clemente Times: The fight over storage of spent fuel at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California is not over.
