The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has submitted the first of what is likely to be several requests for additional information on Holtec International’s license application to build and operate a facility for storage of used fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors.
The Sept. 13 letter encompasses more than 90 distinct requests, primarily on highly technical components of the company’s March 30, 2017, application. It covers the license application overall, Holtec’s safety analysis report, and various parts of the emergency response plan for the site.
The agency expects Holtec to respond to the questions on the safety analysis report within 30 days, but is giving the company 60 days to answer the other requests.
Agency “staff expects to issue its first round of RAIs in several parts,” Jose Cuadrado, project manager for the NRC’s Spent Fuel Licensing Branch, wrote in the letter to Holtec Licensing Manager Kimberly Manzione. “The enclosed RAIs only address selected portions of the NRC staff review completed to date, and additional RAIs will be issued in the future as the staff’s detailed review progresses.”
The first round of requests should wrap up this month, according to Cuadrado.
Holtec, an energy technology company based in Camden, N.J., applied for a 40-year license for underground storage of up to 8,680 metric tons of spent fuel in southeastern New Mexico. The company’s project could ultimately encompass well over 100,000 metric tons of radioactive waste, which would likely remain on-site until the Department of Energy meets its legal mandate to build a permanent disposal facility.
The NRC began its technical review of the application on Feb. 28, covering environmental, safety, and security issues. Stakeholders had until Friday to file petitions to intervene in the proceeding. Among the petitioners: the four members of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, which is partnering with Holtec on the project – the cities of Hobbs and Carlsbad and Eddy and Lea counties; Beyond Nuclear and the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
