Wednesday, January 12, 2011

U.S. Nuclear Body Weighs Proliferation Appraisals for Facility Licensing from GSN Daily News by By Elaine M. Grossman

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to consider requiring companies that seek a domestic license for a civil nuclear facility to evaluate any potential proliferation risks (see GSN, Aug. 2, 2010).
(Jan. 12) - The Exelon Byron Nuclear Generating Stations in Byron, Ill., shown in 2007. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month indicated it would explore the possibility of mandating nuclear proliferation risk evaluations by firms applying for atomic facility licenses (Jeff Haynes/Getty Images).
The agency late last month announced it would study an American Physical Society petition that would make a "Nuclear Proliferation Assessment" a standard feature of the permit process. However, the commission is not expected to decide on the matter anytime soon.
"If our rule were adopted by the NRC, then the next step would be that [proliferation risk] information would be provided to NRC, and NRC would evaluate it as part of the license process," Francis Slakey, a Georgetown University physicist who directs APS public affairs, said yesterday in an interview. Without such a rule, "NRC is not obligated to do anything," he said.

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