Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Press Release
No: 17-010 March 10, 2017
Contact: David McIntyre, 301-415-8200
NRC Releases Draft Regulatory Basis for Decommissioning Rule
The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission is making publicly available a
pre-publication draft regulatory basis for a future power reactor
decommissioning rule.
A notice regarding the draft regulatory basis will be published in the Federal Register later this month, initiating a 90-day public comment period. The preliminary draft document is now publicly available on the NRC website to
facilitate discussion during the agency’s annual Regulatory Information
Conference, scheduled for March 14-16. The conference includes a March
15 technical session on power reactor decommissioning.
The
NRC published an “advance notice of proposed rulemaking” on this matter
in November 2015, seeking public comment on a number of areas to be
considered during the rulemaking process. The rule would establish clear
requirements for commercial power reactors transitioning to
decommissioning. The draft regulatory basis draws upon comments
submitted in response to the ANPR.
In
the draft regulatory basis, the NRC staff concludes there is sufficient
justification to proceed with rulemaking in the areas of emergency
preparedness, physical security, decommissioning trust funds, offsite
and onsite financial protection requirements and indemnity agreements,
and application of the backfit rule. The staff suggests guidance, rather
than rulemaking, should be used to address the role of state and local
governments in the decommissioning process, the level of NRC review and
approval of a licensee’s post-shutdown decommissioning activities
report, and whether to revise the 60-year limit for power reactor
decommissioning.
The
NRC staff is seeking additional public input before making
recommendations on cyber security, drug and alcohol testing, minimum
staffing and training requirements for certified fuel handlers, aging
management, and fatigue management. That additional input, as well as
comments received on the draft document, will be considered as the staff
develops the final regulatory basis, expected to be published in late
2017. That document will be used in developing a proposed rule to be
provided to the Commission in the spring of 2018. The NRC staff expects
to provide a draft final rule to the Commission in fall 2019.
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