Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
12/11/2015
A Vermont official on Wednesday voiced concerns over the direction he perceives the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is taking in considering changes to how licensees of nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning access dedicated trust funds set aside to pay for the work.
NRC economist Mike Dusaniwskyj said Wednesday the agency is considering revising the collection, recording, and accounting of trust funds, particularly money that exceeds the amount required for radiological decommissioning. The potential changes are being considered in the NRC’s decommissioning rulemaking, which is scheduled for completion in 2019. One aspect of the rulemaking, he said during a hearing on the program, is deciding how to avoid the need for regulatory exemptions when licensees attempt to access excess money in trust funds.
Dusaniwskyj’s presentation drew comments from Vermont Assistant Attorney General Kyle Landis-Marinello. In November, the state Attorney General’s Office joined the Vermont Public Service Department and two utilities in filing a petition that requests the NRC conduct a “comprehensive review” of the Vermont Yankee power plant’s estimated $600 million decommissioning trust fund. The petition questions whether the operator is using the fund for its intended purposes. Vermont has financial interest in the fund because 55 percent of funds left over from decommissioning will be returned to the facility’s original Vermont ratepayers.
“It’s no secret that Vermont’s position is that there should be more of a process before these funds are allowed to be used for something like spent fuel management,” Landis-Marinello said. “We’ve specifically said that there should be a full hearing with other parties involved before a decision like that is made, and if I’m reading the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, what the NRC is suggesting is actually going the other direction and having even less of a process or no process at all. Is that right?”
Jason B. Carneal, with the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, said the agency is considering multiple options for the trust fund process as it moves forward with the rulemaking, and at this point the goal is to solicit public feedback. The public comment period on the rulemaking is set to close Jan. 4, though the Vermont congressional delegation has requested the NRC extend it a month and hold public meetings in states where plants are either in the process of or scheduled for dismantling.
“I think at this stage we’re trying to see what other comments we can solicit from the public and other stakeholders to determine — is there anything that we have not yet thought of,” Dusaniwskyj said. “Is there anything that we simply overlooked? I’m not sure what the final rule would be, but at this point we’re just trying to determine anything we have overlooked.”
“This is very early in the rulemaking process,” Corneal said. “We are not at the point where we have rule language determined yet. From here we’ll be moving on into developing the regulatory basis, which is the justification for rulemaking. After that product is developed, we move into development of the proposed rule and then final rule after that, so we’re still very early in the process.”
Corneal then suggested Landis-Marinello submit his comments for consideration in the rulemaking.
