U.S.
The Department of Energy has scheduled a public meeting for Sept. 15 to summarize the public feedback it has received regarding its consent-based siting process for nuclear waste storage, for which it has received more than 11,000 public comments.
Department officials, who will also discuss the next steps for consent-based siting, will be on hand from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Washington D.C. Convention Center, 900 10th St. N.W.
The consent-based siting effort is the Obama administration’s successor to the canceled geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The department held eight public meetings throughout the country this year to gather input on the process, and also received written comments.
The meeting will be broadcast live at http://consentbasedsitingwebcast.azurewebsites.net. Visit energy.gov/consentbasedsiting to register or review the meeting agenda.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is weighing a $14,000 fine against a Puerto Rican firm the agency said has failed to perform decommissioning activities for its medical radioisotope production operation.
The NRC in 2011 requested that International Cyclotron, of Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, provide financial assurance that it could decommission its cyclotron facility, or otherwise cease operation. The firm failed to provide NRC the assurance but by February 2012 halted production of the nuclear medicine products it provides for its patients. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Tuesday that International Cyclotron, which is owned by a medical doctor, has fewer than five employees.
The company notified NRC in 2014 of its intention to start decommissioning the facility, but the company has not initiated the work, despite NRC requirements that it be completed within two years, according to an NRC press release. Sheehan said the company has stopped communicating with the agency, despite the NRC sending a letter as recently as June to notify it of the violations.
The NRC is proposing a Severity Level III violation and $14,000 fine for International Cyclotron. If the company fails to complete the actions, the NRC said it will levy the civil penalty and consider daily fines until the facility is decommissioned.
“The NRC’s overriding interest is to ensure that the company meets its obligation to decommission the facility and that any radioactive materials used or generated during the cyclotron’s operation are properly disposed of or transferred,” NRC Region I Administrator Dan Dorman said in a statement. “As such, the agency will consider not taking enforcement action if International Cyclotron properly disposes of or transfers the materials within 30 days and submits within 60 days a plan and schedule for completing decommissioning.”
