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.
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