On Tuesday, the five-member Commission issued an
Order
directing the staff not to issue licenses for new reactors or to issue
renewed licenses for existing reactors for the time being. The Order,
understandably, caused a flurry of interest among news media, financial
analysts, the nuclear industry and activists, all of whom scrambled to
decipher the Order’s ramifications.
The
potential impact is enormous – the Order affects licensing reviews for
as many as 21 new reactors and 12 license renewals for existing
reactors. It does not affect licenses already issued or renewed.
Let’s
be clear: Tuesday’s Order was not a “Full Stop” to NRC’s licensing
process. The Commission stated that licensing reviews should move
forward– only final licensing was put on hold.
The
Order comes in the context of a June 8 ruling by the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that struck down the NRC’s
waste confidence decision and rule, as updated in 2010.
“Waste
confidence,” as we typically call it, is a generic finding that spent
nuclear fuel can be safely stored at reactor sites for decades in either
spent fuel pools or dry casks, and that a repository will be available
for final disposal of the spent fuel.
Waste
confidence is often mistaken for an authorization – permission to store
fuel onsite for an extended period of time – but it is really a generic
environmental finding that allows our environmental reviews for new
reactors or reactor license renewal to proceed without considering the
site-specific effects of spent fuel storage in each individual
application’s environmental analysis.
The
Appeals Court ruled that NRC should have analyzed the environmental
consequences of never building a permanent waste repository, and that
NRC’s discussion of potential spent fuel pool leaks or fires was
inadequate.
As
soon as the Court issued its ruling, two things happened: The NRC staff
began analyzing the potential impacts on our licensing reviews and
developing a proposed path forward to meet the Court’s requirements; and
activist groups filed petitions requesting that the agency halt
licensing until the waste confidence question is resolved.
Tuesday’s
Order was in response to those petitions. Essentially, the Order
represents a regulatory agency taking a deep breath while trying to
decide the best way to satisfy the Court.
“Because
of the recent court ruling striking down our current waste confidence
provisions, we are now considering all available options for resolving
the waste confidence issue, which could include generic or site-specific
NRC actions, or some combination of both,” the Commission said in the
Order. “We have not yet determined a course of action.” In the meantime,
“we will not issue licenses dependent upon [waste confidence] until the
court’s remand is appropriately addressed.” Licensing reviews and
proceedings should continue, the Commission said.
The
Commission also directed the various Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards
conducting hearings on the applications to put in abeyance any new
filings regarding waste confidence until the Commission gives further
guidance on how to proceed. This ruling also applied to several motions
to reopen and new petitions pending before the Commission.
Finally,
the Commission gave its assurance that the public will be able to
participate in the process as the agency moves forward on waste
confidence. “The public will be afforded an opportunity to comment in
advance on any generic waste confidence document that the NRC issues on
remand – be it a fresh rule, a policy statement, an [Environmental
Assessment] or an [Environmental Impact Statement],” they said.
So
everyone take a deep breath. Now we wait for the Commission to decide
on a course of action to satisfy the Appeals Court’s ruling.
Dave McIntyre
Public Affairs Officer
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