27 Aug (NucNet): The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened the way for the resumption of reactor licensing when commissioners approved a final rule on the environmental effects of the continued storage of utility spent nuclear fuel.
The NRC said in a statement it will lift its suspension of final licensing actions on nuclear power station licences and renewals once the rule becomes effective.
The approval signals the end of a two-year effort to address an order by the US Court of Appeals in Columbia, which in June 2012 struck down the NRC’s 2010 revision of its “waste confidence” rule. The court said the NRC had failed to consider what would happen to the spent fuel if a repository were not available and that the agency had not considered the environmental impact of a spent fuel pool fire or leak.
The NRC responded in August 2012 by suspending final licensing decisions on new reactors, reactor licence renewals and spent fuel storage facility renewals. It directed its staff to develop a new rule and a supporting generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) within 24 months.
The NRC said the GEIS analyses the environmental impact of storing spent fuel beyond the licensed operating life of reactors over three timeframes: for 60 years (short-term), 100 years after the short-term scenario (long-term) and indefinitely.
It also analyses potential impact on land use, air and water quality, and historic and cultural resources.
The NRC said the final rule and supporting GEIS will be published in the Federal Register in September. The rule will go into effect 30 days after the publication date.
The US has been planning to build a deep geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but in 2010 the Obama administration said it was not in favour of the project.
In January 2010, Mr Obama established a commission to provide recommendations for developing a long-term solution to managing the nation’s nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel.
Based on the commission’s findings, the Department of Energy has recommended building a pilot storage facility with limited capacity that would temporarily store used nuclear fuel, initially from reactors that already have been shut down. That facility would open in 2021.
A full-scale temporary storage facility would be built, to open in 2025, that would “provide flexibility” in meeting the federal commitment to accept used commercial nuclear fuel.
For more details see: http://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/wcd.html
