By John Stang
Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects completion by 2021 of an overhaul of regulations covering nuclear power reactors making the transition from operations to decommissioning.
That is two years later than anticipated when the NRC commissioners in 2014 told staff to proceed with the rulemaking, Bruce Watson, chief of the NRC’s Reactor Decommissioning Branch, acknowledged on Tuesday. He noted that staff in May 2018 submitted the draft proposed rule to the commission, where it remains.
“The staff doesn’t set the priorities for the commission on their work. We’re waiting on them to make the decisions on how to move forward with the proposed rules that we’ve given them,” Watson said during a presentation at the NRC’s Reg Con 2019 in King of Prussia, Pa.
In an email, NRC spokesman David McIntyre said the NRC staff has been revising its timetable every few months on the schedule for the proceeding.
“We’re waiting on the commission direction,” Watson said. “We’re hoping that we’ll get on their agenda soon to vote on it so we can move ahead.”
The proposed rule covers 14 different operational areas, including emergency preparedness, physical security, cybersecurity, decommissioning funding assurance, insurance, and environmental considerations, according to Watson’s presentation.
The overall intent is to relieve power operators of needing to apply for NRC exemptions to federal regulations that are intended for operational nuclear power plants that pose a greater hazard than retired facilities. Toward that, among the list of recommended rules updates, the staff proposal would apply a graded approach to emergency preparedness, physical security, cybersecurity, and off- and on-site insurance, with the federal directives becoming less stringent over time as site cleanup proceeds.
Licensees would also no longer automatically require an exemption to use their decommissioning trust funds for management of spent reactor fuel.
After the commission returns the proposed rule with any directed changes, it would be opened for 75 days of public comment, according to Watson’s presentation. Those comments would be used in preparing the draft final rule, which would then be sent back to the commission. The goal is for the commissioners to approve the final rule by mid-2020 ahead of publication the following year.
With the closure today of Three Mile Island reactor Unit 2 in Pennsylvania, there are 23 reactors in decommissioning in the United States, Watson said. Thirteen of those are in active decommissioning, while 10 are SAFSTOR mode under which final cleanup can be delayed for up to 60 years.
Senators from states with reactors that have closed down or are nearing retirement have kept a wary eye on the rulemaking process.
Last year, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) wrote to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki with several concerns. These included proposed reductions in financial protection requirements against liability claims, the rule making not adequately addressing the likelihood that spent fuel will remain on their sites longer than originally planned, and decreasing opportunities for public participation.
The nuclear industry has looked more favorably on the rulemaking. At the ExchangeMonitor’s 2018 Decommissioning Strategy Forum, executives with the Nuclear Energy Institute and Duke Energy voiced support for the proposal, saying it would lessen regulatory burdens and make decommissioning rules more predictable.
