U.S.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday issued its proposed fees charged to license applicants and licensees for fiscal 2017.
Most annual fees would drop from the fiscal 2016 fee schedule, but the NRC proposed to slightly increase the hourly rate for NRC staff work, from $265 to $267, or 0.8 percent. The proposed rule was published Monday in the Federal Register, and the regulator is accepting comments through March 1. The NRC recovers about 90 percent of its budget through fees — bringing in an anticipated $833.4 million for the budget year ending Sept. 30.
As proposed, annual fees for operating reactors would decrease by 7.3 percent; by 16.1 percent for most fuel cycle facilities; by 1.5 percent for spent fuel storage and decommissioning reactor licensees; by 8.8 percent for uranium recovery licensees; by 2.4 percent for research and test reactors; by 4.2 percent for Department of Energy transportation activities; and by 15 percent for DOE uranium recovery activities.
The proposed fee rule reflects reductions from NRC’s Project Aim, which is the agency’s effort to remove redundant work and services. The final rule will be based on the NRC’s actual appropriation, and if Congress opts to fund the rest of the year through a continuing resolution, fees will look similar to 2016, according to an agency press release Monday. The current CR is scheduled to expire on April 28.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s legal counsel and new Chairwoman Kristine Svinicki are determining the impact of President Donald Trump’s regulatory freeze on the agency.
The White House on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, issued an executive memorandum halting all new or proposed federal regulations under consideration in executive departments and agencies, with exceptions to rules impacting health, safety, financial, or national security matters. The president ordered all heads of executive departments and agencies to withdraw pending regulations, as of Jan. 20, from the Office of the Federal Register. Trump also ordered that agencies postpone for 60 days the effective date for all regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but have not taken effect.
Svinicki and counsel are currently weighing the executive memo, sources said. On Monday, several NRC regulatory actions were published to the Federal Register, including the NRC’s fee recovery update for fiscal 2017, along with the notice of the agency’s environmental review of Waste Control Specialists’ application to build and operate a consolidated interim radioactive waste storage facility in West Texas. The fee schedule allows the NRC to recover about 90 percent of its budget through charging federally mandated fees to its licensees and customers.
“The NRC continues to process regulations and guidance documents in accordance with its independent health and safety mission, including publication of regulations in the Federal Register,” NRC spokeswoman Maureen Conley said by email Friday. “This action is consistent with practice during transitions.”
EnergySolutions last week subpoenaed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, requesting documents and communications concerning federal low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) regulations, as it gears up to fight a civil antitrust lawsuit the Department of Justice filed against the company’s $367 million acquisition of Waste Control Specialists (WCS).
The subpoena is considered routine for such a case, as both sides are gathering information for the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, where both EnergySolutions and WCS have established limited liability companies. The Department of Justice argues that the deal would merge the two largest competitors for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal services in dozens of states, monopolizing the market. EnergySolutions says its plans to “vigorously defend” against the lawsuit, arguing that its competitors operate numerous disposal sites for LLRW.
Low-level waste is a radioactive byproduct of nuclear generation, scientific research, and medical treatment, and includes items such as tools, personal protective clothing, water-purification filters and resins, hardware from nuclear plants, and medical equipment.
Lawyers for EnergySolutions and WCS, in a Jan. 24 subpoena, requested all NRC documents related to state or federal regulation of operational low-level radioactive waste, along with all NRC communications with third parties and government entities concerning low-level radioactive waste authorization, among other documents. The companies also requested all NRC documents related to the proposed acquisition, including potential or perceived benefits and impacts of the deal, as well as any documents related to DOJ’s investigation of the sale. The companies are also seeking documents that detail low-level waste production, volume, and disposal data.
INTERNATIONAL
The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has opened bidding for £3 million ($3.7 million) in development contracts for decommissioning work at the Sellafield site’s Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) and Magnox Reprocessing plant.
The NDA on Monday requested applications by April 26 for projects that will focus on the development of robots and remotely operated equipment. The purpose of the work is to reduce risks to workers, shorten project timelines, reduce costs, and develop waste cleanup approaches.
Both facilities are slated for cleanup under the Sellafield decommissioning project, a 100-year, 55-building effort that has an overall cost estimate of £70 billion. Thorp is a reprocessing facility for U.K. and international spent oxide fuel, while Magnox reprocesses spent nuclear fuel from Magnox nuclear power stations across the U.K.
The NDA has scheduled a Feb. 14 briefing in London, which will be webcast. The NDA has outlined the initial bidding process through March 9 here.
“We are particularly interested in robotics, other autonomous systems, sensors and detectors, imaging and virtual reality,” NDA technical innovation manager Chris Hope said in a statement. “These will ensure a safer environment for the workforce and support planning.”
Companies will compete for the work in stages, with NDA offering initial funding to develop a business plan and demonstrations in a nonradioactive environment. Successful demonstration opens the possibility for deployment and demonstration of technologies at a radioactive facility at Sellafield. The first brokering is scheduled for Feb. 28.
France has set aside 22.2 billion euro ($24 billion) to decommission nine reactors managed by state-owned power company EDF, according to a report issued Wednesday by the French National Assembly’s sustainable development and planning committee.
The largest decommissioning project is ongoing at the Chooz A pressurized water reactor in Ardennes, which began in 2007 and is scheduled for completion in 2022. Dismantling that plant will inform work on the remaining reactors, the report says.
The money set aside for decommissioning the plants is the subject of an audit the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea, performed and published in January 2016. It concludes that EDF’s $24 billion estimate to dismantle its nuclear fleet is accurate.
