By John Stang
Proposed changes in federal rules for nuclear reactors transitioning into decommissioning this week drew little or no concern from three nuclear power providers.
Last week, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission unveiled a set of proposed regulations that would be specific to reactors that are no longer operational, covering areas ranging from physical and cyber security to management of trust funds that pay for decommissioning.
The recommendations developed by NRC staff are intended to reduce the need for nuclear plant operators to request exemptions to federal regulations or license amendments for facilities that pose a reduced danger for accidents or radiation releases. In the proposal, NRC staff said relaxed regulations are appropriate for reactors that are closed and defueled.
Southern California Edison, which is decommissioning the final two reactors at its San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, said it is reviewing the proposal. However, the utility “expects it will not have a significant impact on San Onofre since we have already addressed many of these issues through exemptions approved by the NRC,” spokeswoman Liese Mosher said by email.
FirstEnergy Solutions’ similarly had little to say about the rules package as it stands now. In March, the Akron, Ohio, company announced plans to by October 2021 close three nuclear power plants: the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station at Oak Harbor, Ohio; the Perry Nuclear Power Plant at Perry, Ohio; and the Beaver Valley Power Station north of Pittsburgh.
“We are reviewing the NRC’s proposed rule in detail. We will continue our engagement with the Nuclear Energy Institute, other nuclear operators, and the NRC as the Commission considers the proposed rule,” FES spokesman Tom Mulligan said by email.
Entergy, which owns the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and plans to shutter other sites in coming years, declined to comment.
The NRC staff plan would make a series of regulatory changes in the following areas: emergency preparedness, physical security, cybersecurity, drug and alcohol testing, training requirements for certified fuel handlers, decommissioning trust funds, financial protection requirements and indemnity agreements, and application of the backfit rule.
For example: rather than applying the same emergency preparedness standards for operational and decommissioning nuclear reactors, new rules would establish four stages of measures that become less strict as decommissioning progresses and ends. The stages are: post-shutdown emergency plan, permanent reactor defueling plan, independent spent fuel storage installation-only plan, and no plan required.
Should the commission approve the recommendations, nuclear licensees would be allowed to use money in their decommissioning trust funds to move and temporarily store used reactor fuel on-site. The deadline for notification of receipt of shipments of low-level radioactive waste would be expanded from 20 days to 45 days.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, the Washington, D.C., lobbying arm for the nuclear industry, did not respond to a request for its take on the proposed rules. However, in an April interview with RadWaste Monitor, NEI Senior Director for Used Fuel and Decommissioning Rod McCullum said the rulemaking was “trending in the right direction.” He said the process would create efficiencies that would save millions of dollars for plant operators.
At least one lawmaker was less sanguine about the proposals: In a press release last week, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) called the package “an industry wish list.” He did not elaborate in the statement, and his office this week did not respond to requests for additional detail.
Markey noted in the release that 20 commercial reactors are being decommissioned, with another 10 scheduled between 2019 and 2050, including Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts.
The commission will now approve or direct revisions to the rules proposal, a process of several months. The public will then have 75 days to submit comments that will guide development of the final document. Following anticipated commission approval in fall 2019, the rules would take effect in 2020.
