The Nuclear Regulatory Commission may free up resources outside its Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) in order complete reviews of one or more license applications for interim storage of nuclear waste, according to an official.
Texas-based Waste Control Specialists plans to submit its license application for a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in April, while Holtec International plans to submit its own application for a facility in New Mexico by June.
NRC did not include any funds for those reviews in fiscal 2016, but it has requested $1.4 million for the WCS evaluation in fiscal 2017. Commissioners and senior officials have said the agency will be able to reprioritize workloads if it receives the applications it expects.
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Monday by email the work reprioritization will be driven by a new procedure implemented through Project Aim, which is the agency’s re-evaluation of its workload and environment. The newly revised “add/shed/defer” procedure, Sheehan wrote, will be used to rank the priority of the new “emergent” work against the recently completed “common prioritization” of agency work developed as part of rebaselining under Project Aim. He added that deferred or eliminated work could come from a “business line” outside of NMSS. NMSS is responsible for regulating production of commercial spent nuclear fuel.
