Waste Control Specialists expects by October to fully respond to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission request for supplemental information regarding the company’s license application to build and operate a consolidated interim spent fuel storage site in West Texas, WCS President and CEO Rod Baltzer said on Tuesday.
The commission in a June 22 letter said the company’s 3,000-page application did not have sufficient technical information for NRC staff to conduct a full review of the document. The agency gave WCS 28 days from the date of the letter to provide the information, and two weeks from the same point to inform the NRC whether it can provide the information in that time period.
In a blog post, Baltzer said Waste Control Specialists last week submitted its schedule for providing its responses to the NRC. The main data delivery is expected on July 20, he said.
“However, as the NRC is aware, some of the answers will require further discussions with them and those will likely be completed by the end of September,” Baltzer added. “Likewise, one request requires us to conduct an analyses that will take us through October.”
The NRC information request addressed three broad areas, going into high levels of detail in each: the licensing basis for the dry casks that would store the fuel; rather than being restricted to already-approved storage casks, the application seems to include “future certificate of compliance (CoC) amendments” the NRC has not reviewed or approved; and the need for more detail in some sections of the application.
“We are eager to be as timely in our responses as they were in taking the first pass at our application. It is evident that it is being considered very seriously and that’s very encouraging,” Baltzer said. He indicated the NRC would likely request additional detail regarding the application.
The full NRC review for the 40-year license could take three years. Waste Control Specialists hopes by 2021 to begin operating the facility designed to hold up to 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel now stored at commercial reactor sites around the country.
