ROCKVILLE, Md. – As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) moves toward a risk-informed approach across the agency, the agency began to examine its approach to transporting incoming microreactor technology at its Thursday meeting.
During the meeting, the commission and high-level NRC management discussed the transportation of microreactors and their used fuel en route to refueling at their respective facilities under the proposed Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 57 – 10 CFR Part 57 – rulemaking.
Cinthya Roman-Cuevas, NRC deputy director of fuel management, said NRC leveraged Part 71 of the agency’s regulations to address transportation of spent fuel for the microreactor. The Part 71 rule deals with packaging and transportation of radioactive materials. The two regulations will differ from each other primarily due to the different microreactor features in comparison to dry storage casks, which are licensed under Part 71.
Roman-Cuevas said the commission is considering the different aspects of the backend of Part 57, such as public radiation dose impacts during transport and the possible need of more shielding for irradiated microreactors. However, research shows that microreactors can be transported safely, even if dose rates are higher, under defined conditions, Roman-Cuevas said.
Commissioner Bradley Crowell said he has reservations about the proposed Part 57 rule’s handling and transportation of the microreactor and its spent fuel, as well as the speed of progression overall.
“I worry a little bit that we’re moving quicker on Part 57 from a rulemaking/regulatory standpoint than we have the information to support the parameters that we’re going to put into that rule,” Crowell said.
“I think we’re doing a lot of guessing and hoping here and I don’t know if that’s accurate or going to fill in the blanks or if there’s a process for that,” Crowell continued. “I want to be wrong about what I characterized either now or down the road so I look forward to that confidence.”
Roman-Cuevas told Crowell and the commissioners that the agency did move fast on the proposed rule because it had years’ worth of research and data on microreactors to enable it to do so. She added there is ample research to ensure that the potential higher level radiation level would still not be harmful to people.
Over 100 staffers agencywide were involved with the proposed rulemaking and focused on safety, Roman-Cuevas added.
There will be entry criteria that reactors will have to meet to use the proposed Part 57 rule due to factors such as higher radiation exposure, reactor size and safety features, NRC Executive Director of Operation Mike King and Roman-Cuevas told Crowell. These parameters will be put in place to better determine which reactor would best fit for the new regulatory framework.
Not all microreactors will be transported with used fuel in them, but some will be and the rulemaking is being modeled to have safety measures for those situations, Andrea Kock, NRC director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, said.
NRC Chief Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch Yoira Diaz-Sanabria said that the agency has reached out to stakeholders, states and tribes about the transportation of microreactors with used fuel.
Part of the Executive 14300 rulemaking, the regulatory framework under the proposed Part 57 rule aims to enable rapid deployment of microreactors and other reactor technologies with similar risk profiles. NRC posted the rulemaking in the Federal Register on May 1.