U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a license application for export of 10,000 tons of nuclear material back to Canada after it has been decontaminated at a facility in Tennessee.
Massachusetts-based UniTech Group Services last October filed for import and export licenses for the material, which would be treated at its Oak Ridge Service Center. The NRC determined the import license was not necessary, and is still reviewing the application for the export license.
Commission documents describe the material in question as tools, metal, and other solid materials of varying composition. The proposal has caught the attention of anti-nuclear organizations that worry about the dangers of moving the material over U.S. roadways.
Higgins sent his letter to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki on May 5, the last day for public comment on the license application.
“There are potentially significant transportation risks in moving radioactive waste and material on infrastructure shared by everyday citizens,” Higgins wrote. “This is particularly attenuated in this circumstance where the shipment will be unescorted and without proper advance notice to the communities, including those I represent, where the shipments will move through.”
In a May 8 letter to Higgins, NRC Congressional Affairs Office Director Eugene Dacus said the agency would send a formal response “as soon as possible.”
There was no immediate comment from UniTech on the matter.
Higgins has been a vocal opponent of import of Canadian nuclear material to the United States through New York state, particularly highly enriched uranium being shipped to the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
The employee headcount at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is currently listed at more than 3,250 full-time equivalent positions, down considerably from the more than 4,000 recorded during the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years, according to the agency’s May update to Congress.
The over 60-page report, released May 5 to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), touches on everything from staffing levels at the nuclear watchdog agency to its increasing level of decommissioning activity.
NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki noted in a cover letter that the monthly report is in response to a December request from the Senate panel’s nuclear safety subcommittee.
“The FY 2017 Actuals are end-of-fiscal-year projections based upon known personnel actions as of pay period ending April 1, 2017,” according to the NRC document. The report notes that the NRC has been budgeted for more than 3,400 full-time slots.
The regulator has been under pressure from Republican lawmakers to reduce its staff headcount given that license applications for new nuclear reactors have dried up in recent years, due to weak power demand and the increased role for natural gas and renewables in power generation.
In its Project Aim, the NRC set a goal of reducing staffing to 3,600 full-time slots by the end of fiscal 2016. It met that goal.
While new reactor applications are down, the report notes there are more shut-down power reactor units that are moving from operating to decommissioning status. An NRC official said last week during a public hearing in California that 20 power reactors are undergoing decommissioning; six are active projects and the rest are in SAFSTOR mode, under which they are maintained in a safe condition for up to 60 years before decontamination.
Senior executives from the companies involved in the planned sale of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station will provide an update on the deal at a meeting Thursday of the state Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel.
Entergy intends to sell the facility, closed since 2014, to NorthStar Group Services for decommissioning and site restoration. The companies say the sale would allow for completion of decommissioning no later than 2030, decades before the schedule previously set by Entergy.
Entergy Vice President of External Affairs T. Michael Twomey and NorthStar CEO Scott State will update the citizens group on the license transfer application and the updated post-shutdown decommissioning activities report filed last month by NorthStar for Vermont Yankee.
Officials from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also attend the meeting to take public comments as the agency reviews the application to transfer the site license from Entergy to NorthStar, according to the notice of the event. The Vermont Public Service Board must also approve the sale; it is currently in the discovery phase of its review.
The citizens advisory panel meeting is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. in the multipurpose room of Brattleboro Area Middle School, 109 Sunny Acres in Brattleboro. The 19-member group’s next session is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 22.