The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday released a preliminary draft regulatory basis for its 2019 decommissioning rulemaking, which moves the agency a step further in developing new decommissioning regulations for nuclear reactors.
The 2019 rulemaking is the regulator’s effort to clarify and improve the decommissioning process, with a focus on reducing the need for safety exemptions at closed plants. The draft regulatory basis allows the regulator to move forward with developing regulations in specific areas concerning decommissioning, including trust funds that pay for the work. The NRC is expected to open the process to public comment in the coming weeks, allowing for a 90-day comment period.
NRC staff will consider public comments on the draft document as it develops a final regulatory basis, which is expected toward the end of 2017. That document will allow staff to develop a proposed rule, which is expected in the spring 2018. A final draft rule, according to the NRC, is should be delivered to the commission in the fall 2019.
The agency released the document ahead of next week’s Regulatory Information Conference at NRC headquarters. The regulator is seeking public comment and discussion on the document at a March 15 technical session.
The draft regulatory basis concludes it is safe to proceed with developing regulations in the following areas: physical security; decommissioning trust funds; off-site and on-site financial protection requirements and indemnity agreements; and the backfit rule. “The staff suggests guidance, rather than rulemaking, should be used to address the role of state and local governments in the decommissioning process, the level of NRC review and approval of a licensee’s post-shutdown decommissioning activities report, and whether to revise the 60-year limit for power reactor decommissioning,” according to an agency press release.
