The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a final rule addressing the environmental effects of continued storage of spent nuclear fuel. The regulator will also lift its two-year suspension of final licensing decisions for new reactors, reactor licence renewals and spent fuel storage facility renewals once the rule enters into force.
The approval of the rule signals the end of a two-year effort to satisfy a remand by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In June 2012, the court struck down the NRC’s 2010 revision of its so-called ‘waste confidence’ rule, directing the agency to consider the possibility that a geologic repository for permanent disposal of spent fuel might never be built, and to do further analysis of spent fuel pool leaks and fires. NRC responded in August 2012 by suspending final licensing decisions on new reactors, reactor licence renewals and spent fuel storage facility renewals. It then directed the staff to develop a new rule and a supporting Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) within 24 months.
The continued storage rule adopts the findings of the GEIS regarding the environmental impacts of storing spent fuel at any reactor site for 60 years (short-term), 100 years after the short-term scenario (long-term) and indefinitely. It also contains an analysis of spent fuel pool leaks and fires.
The new rule has been renamed from ‘waste confidence’ to ‘continued storage of spent nuclear fuel’ in response to near-unanimous public comment to more accurately reflect the nature and content of the rule, NRC said.
NRC stressed that the rule does not authorise, license or otherwise permit nuclear power plant licensees to store used fuel for any length of time.
The US nuclear industry welcomed the new rule. "The affirmation supports the nuclear energy industry’s position that used nuclear fuel from commercial reactors can be safely managed in specially designed fuel pools in the short term and in steel and concrete storage containers for longer timeframes," the Nuclear Energy Institute said in a statement.
"The completion of this rulemaking is an important step that will facilitate final decisions on industry licensing actions pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," said Ellen Ginsberg, vice president, secretary and general counsel for the NEI.
