Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
11/21/2014
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Allison Macfarlane called for the Commission to work on developing more specific regulations tied to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, in remarks she made this week at the National Press Club in Washington. Macfarlane’s comments came in the context of lessons learned during her time at the Commission, especially in light of her impending departure. Macfarlane announced last month her plans to leave the NRC at the end of the year to take a position at George Washington University. “While I believe that these regulations provide a robust framework for the NRC’s operating reactor oversight, I question whether exemptions remain appropriate at a time when multiple plants have entered the decommissioning process,” Macfarlane said. “I believe it’s time for the NRC to develop regulations specific to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, both to help utilities through decommissioning and to structure public expectations of the process.”
Exemptions from emergency preparedness and security regulations for decommissioning plants proved troublesome during Macfarlane’s tenure with push-back from Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) over the perceived safety reductions. The NRC has maintained that the exemptions reflect the reduced risks of a decommissioning plant, something Macfarlane suggested should have its own rulemaking. Once there no longer is fuel in the reactor core, the chance of an accident reduces dramatically, the NRC has argued. For recently announced shutdown plants, only Kewaunee has officially received exemptions to its license to better reflect its decommissioning status. Crystal River and San Onofre have both applied for the exemptions, however.
Another decommissioning-related issue that needs to be looked at, Macfarlane said, deals with the NRC’s role in the Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report. A shutdown plant must provide a PSDAR to the NRC for review, but the NRC does not have final yes/no approval on the plan, something Macfarlane says should be discussed. “I think there needs to be a discussion on the Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report,” she said. “This report is something the power plant provide us, but we don’t have any place to approve it or disapprove, and I think this is something we should consider whether we need to or not. There are a number of issues that we need to think about going forward.”
Debate Over Yucca Mountain Includes More Than Technical Issues, Chair Says
Macfarlane also tried to temper the growing enthusiasm for relaunching the shuttered Yucca Mountain repository project. With the recent release of Volume Three of the Safety Evaluation Report saying the design at Yucca Mountain meets regulatory requirements for post-closure and the Senate flipping to Republican control, Yucca supporters have breathed new life into the project. Macfarlane , however, reminded those supporters that without a willing applicant, the NRC could not move forward in the licensing process. “I want to emphasize that the Department of Energy and the Administration have been clear that they’re not pursuing a license for Yucca Mountain, and Congress hasn’t provided resources for them to do so,” Macfarlane said. “Without a willing applicant, the NRC cannot pursue the remaining portion of the licensing process.”
When asked what she would say to the changing Senate leadership on Yucca Mountain, she cautioned that this is a larger issue that just technical suitability. “Yucca Mountain is not just a technical issue,” Macfarlane said. “It is clearly a political and societal issue, and those pieces need to be resolved—-for any repository. Clearly, the societal and political side has to be resolved as well as the technical side.”
U.S. Should ‘Reinvigorate Our Focus’ on Permanent Spent Fuel Disposal
Macfarlane also suggested that the NRC take up a renewed interest in solving the problem at the backend of the fuel cycle. Her main concern, as she outlined in her partial vote for the Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel rulemaking, centers on the indefinite timeframe for spent fuel storage on-site, which she sees as a potential false security blanket. On her vote, “I was concerned that the staff had not adequately explored what would happen in the event of a potential loss of ‘institutional controls’ – that is, a future where no one is responsible for ensuring that the waste remains in a safe condition indefinitely,” Macfarlane said this week. “I feel strongly that we as a nation not use the assurance of safe interim high-level waste storage as an excuse not to make progress in developing a permanent repository. We must reinvigorate our focus on the permanent disposal of spent fuel.”
One way the NRC could do this is through establishing a generic standard for a repository, she said. The current NRC regulations for siting standards only reflect Yucca Mountain, which would impede progress on a new site or second location that will eventually be needed. The new rulemaking, Macfarlane said, would help establish a generic standard. “Since our current siting standards for deep geologic disposal are specific to the Yucca Mountain site, I believe it’s appropriate and necessary to begin a rulemaking to address a generic standard,” she said.
