The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recently discontinued its rulemaking work on spent fuel pools and is denying a petition for rulemaking.
The discontinuation of the “Long-Term and Unattended Water Makeup Spent Fuel Pools” rulemaking activity was published in the Federal Register on May 7. The NRC said if it pursues similar rulemaking activities in the future, then it will inform the public at that time.
Petitioner Thomas Popik on behalf of the Foundation of Resilient Societies requested that NRC amend its regulations to require nuclear plant licensees to ensure that their spent fuel pools can continue to cool and maintain water levels during potential prolonged power outages.
The NRC said its final rule, “Mitigation of Beyond-Design-Basis Events” in 2019 resolved part of the petition.The rule requires licensees to have plans to use offsite resources to support restoring or sustaining cooling, containment and spent fuel pool capabilities during an extended outage.
Popik raised other concerns of having emergency systems in place that can operate without human intervention for two years and claiming that the NRC regulations did not require nuclear plant licensees to undertake mitigating efforts for extended grid outages caused by extreme solar storms.
The NRC said the other concerns raised by the petitioner have been addressed by other industry and government actions.
Through the improvements of space weather monitoring, grid operators have the ability to and precautions that can protect grid equipment, the NRC said.
As for the other issue, the NRC said in 10 CFR part 50, appendix A of its regulations requires onsite electric power supplies and distribution electric systems to maintain backup safety functions.
Popik, who submitted the petition on behalf of the Foundation of Resilient Societies, submitted the petition in March 2011. The New Hampshire-based organization pushes for better protecting critical infrastructure from natural and man-made disasters. The petition was filed a few days after the Fukushima Dai-chi nuclear disaster in Japan.
From May 2011 to July 2011, the NRC received 97 public comments on the Federal Register petition.
