SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should next week receive agency staff’s proposed package of rules for nuclear power reactors transitioning from operations to decommissioning, a senior official said Wednesday.
The proposal is going through its final concurrence process and should be submitted to the commissioners on May 7, according to Meena Khanna, chief for the NRC’s Reactor Rulemaking and Project Management Branch.
“I can’t speak to how long the commission will take to review, but obviously they’ll take the appropriate time that they need to make sure that they’re comfortable with the proposed rule, possibly ask us questions,” Khanna said during a panel discussion at the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Used Fuel Management Conference here.
The process formally started in 2015 is intended to set clear rules in a number of operational areas as plants cease operations. It would free operators from having to apply for license amendments or exemptions to current rules for defueled facilities that do not need the same stringent emergency and security rules applied to operational plants.
In late 2017, NRC staff designated a number of areas that would be subject to the rulemaking, including physical security, cybersecurity, decommissioning trust funds, and drug and alcohol testing. The regulator would provide guidance, but not directives, in some other areas, such as the role of state and local governments in the decommissioning process.
Upon commission approval, staff would release the proposed rulemaking and draft guidance documents for a public comment period of around 75 days, Khanna said. A public meeting would be part of the process.
Staff will then use the received comments to develop the final rule package, which is expected to be submitted to the commission for a vote in fall 2019. Assuming the rule package is approved, it would be published and take effect in early 2020.
