NRC Requests LLRW Program Comments

NRC 05-15 LLRW comment request.pdf

On May 14, 2014 (79 FR 27772), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a federal register requesting comments on developments that would affect the Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) regulatory program in the next several years that would affect licensees and sited States and actions that the NRC could take to ensure safety, security, and the protection of the environment. The NRC is conducting an update to a Strategic Assessment of its LLRW regulatory program. The objective of this assessment is to identify and prioritize activities that the staff can undertake to ensure a stable, reliable and adaptable regulatory framework for effective LLRW management, while also considering future needs and changes that may occur in the nation’s LLRW management system. Some examples of challenges and issues to be addressed include: (1) the desire of industry for greater flexibility and reliability in LLRW disposal options; (2) increased storage capacity for Class B and Class C LLRW because of the limited access of the Barnwell, South Carolina, disposal facility in 2008 to out-of-compact waste generators; (3) the potential need to dispose of large quantities of power plant decommissioning waste, as well as depleted uranium from enrichment facilities; (4) the limited resources in the NRC LLRW program; (5) increased security concerns related to storing LLRW in general and sealed radioactive sources in particular as a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack; and (6) new waste streams that may be generated (for example, by the next generation of nuclear reactors and the potential reemergence of nuclear fuel reprocessing in the United States). Please submit comments by July 14, 2014.