NRC Denies Petition Calling for Proliferation Assessments by Applicants for Enrichment or Reprocessing Facilities

May 31.2013

CONTACT:

David McIntyre

NRC Denies Petition Calling for Proliferation Assessments

by Applicants for Enrichment or Reprocessing Facilities

 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has denied a petition for rulemaking submitted by the

American Physical Society that would have required applicants for uranium enrichment or spent fuel reprocessing licenses to assess potential proliferation risks posed by their facilities.

The Commission approved the staff’s recommendation to deny the petition in a Staff

Requirements Memorandum made public today.One of the NRC’s primary concerns is to ensure the facilities it regulates that manufacture or use enriched uranium do so safely and securely. TheCommission agreed with the staff’s assertion that the NRC’s comprehensive regulations for licensing,oversight and security of nuclear facilities protect classified

information, nuclear materials and technology. Such protections aid the U.S. government’s nonproliferation efforts.

The staff also reasoned that the federal government, with its intelligence resources and

assessment capabilities, assesses proliferation risks of new technologies or facilities more effectively than a commercial applicant can. In this regard, the NRC routinely interacts with and provides expertiseto its Executive Branch partners, including the departments of State, Defense, Energy and Commerce.

The Commission said the agency should explain to the public in plain language how its

regulations and activities address these nonproliferation efforts. The Commission also directed that theNRC should periodically review its regulations to ensure th

ey are robust enough to address potential proliferation challenges raised by enrichment or reprocessing technologies the agency has not previously licensed.

“While the Commission denied the petition, the American Physical Society raised important

issues that we carefully considered,” NRC Chairman Allison M. Macfarlane said. “We will nowperiodically review our regulations and guidance to ensure that they take new technologies into account, and we will more clearly communicate how we look holistically at

nonproliferation objectives in our licensing process.”

The APS filed the petition in November 2010, and the NRC published the petition for public

comment the following month. The agency received nearly 2,400 comment letters, the majority identical form letters supporting the petition. A summary of the comments received and the staff’s responses will be published in a Federal Register notice, expected shortly.

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2013/13-044.pdf