NRC Tables ISFSI Security Rulemaking

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to table for five years a proposed rulemaking on security requirements for facilities storing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, according to a Staff Requirements Memorandum released last week. The NRC had originally initiated the rulemaking to apply “radiological dose-based regulatory approach to all independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSI) using release-fraction values specified by the NRC,” a Staff SECY paper said. NRC Staff, though, indicated that due to competing priorities within the NRC and possible changes as a result of the NRC’s decommissioning rulemaking, it would be more prudent to delay the rulemaking from its December 2015 deadline.

 

“The Commission has approved the staff’s recommendation to delay for a period of five years the commencement of a proposed rulemaking on security requirements for facilities storing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste,” the NRC said in its SRM. “At the end of the five-year period, the staff should re-evaluate whether rulemaking in this area is warranted. However, the staff notes several scenarios, including its evaluation in the context of the Project Aim re-baselining, under which the staff would accelerate this rulemaking.” The NRC assured that with existing regulations and the NRC’s post-9/11 security requirements, the ISFSIs remain protective of human health and the environment.