[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 113 (Wednesday, June 12, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27209-27210]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-12342]


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 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 113 / Wednesday, June 12, 2019 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 27209]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[Docket No. PRM-50-119; NRC-2019-0083]


Access to the Decommissioning Trust Fund for the Disposal of 
Large Components

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of docketing and request for 
comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a 
petition for rulemaking from Gerard P. Van Noordennen on behalf of 
EnergySolutions, LLC, dated February 22, 2019. The petitioner requests 
that the NRC revise its regulations to allow access to the 
decommissioning trust fund for the removal of major radioactive 
components before the permanent cessation of operations. The petition 
was docketed by the NRC on March 20, 2019 and has been assigned Docket 
No. PRM-50-119. The NRC is examining the issues raised in PRM-50-119 to 
determine whether they should be considered in rulemaking. The NRC is 
requesting public comment on this petition at this time.

DATES: Submit comments by August 26, 2019. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is 
able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0083. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do 
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact 
us at 301-415-1677.
     Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission at 301-415-1101.
     Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
     Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal 
workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Doyle, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3748; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0083 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0083.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS 
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number for each 
document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first 
time that it is mentioned in this document.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2019-0083 in your comment submission.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. The Petitioner and the Petition

    The petition was submitted by Gerard P. Van Noordennen on behalf of 
EnergySolutions, LLC. Gerard P. Van Noordennen is the Vice President of 
Regulatory Affairs. The petitioner requests that the NRC amend part 50 
of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) to revise the 
criteria for decommissioning and allow the use of the decommissioning 
trust fund for the disposal of major radioactive components before the 
permanent cessation of operations. The petition may be found in ADAMS 
at Accession No. ML19079A293.

III. Discussion of the Petition

    The petitioner requests that the NRC amend 10 CFR part 50 to revise 
the definition of decommissioning in Sec.  50.2 and amend Sec.  50.82 
to allow access to the decommissioning trust fund before the permanent 
cessation of operations at nuclear power plants. The petitioner 
observes that many factors within the nuclear power industry have 
changed since 2007, when the petitioner submitted a request for 
petition for rulemaking on similar issues (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML071570539), which was docketed by the NRC as PRM-50-

[[Page 27210]]

88 and later denied. The petitioner suggests that granting the petition 
will remove unnecessary burden from licensees who store major 
radioactive components on their sites during plant operations because 
they cannot use decommissioning funds for disposal of these components. 
Storing these components on site results in costs to build and maintain 
storage structures and to monitor for releases and exposures. The 
petitioner observes that the removal and disposal of components during 
operations could be considered as activities that would be part of the 
decommissioning process; therefore, decommissioning funds could be used 
for disposal of the components before permanent cessation of 
operations, in cases where excess funds can be shown to exist. The 
petitioner also observes that onsite storage of major radioactive 
components leads to unnecessary regulatory burdens for their 
maintenance and monitoring, including a potential for worker exposure.

IV. Request for Comment

    The NRC is requesting public comment on the following specific 
questions:
    1. Licensees currently may use their own internal operating funds 
to dispose of major radioactive components (e.g., steam generators) 
during plant operation, or they may choose to wait until 
decommissioning begins to use funds set aside for decommissioning. What 
advantages or disadvantages do you see to either approach, which are 
available under the current regulations? Provide an explanation for 
your response.
    2. Should the NRC revise its regulations to allow a licensee the 
option to use funds set aside for radiological decommissioning 
(decommissioning trust fund) to dispose of major radioactive components 
(e.g., steam generators) while the nuclear power plant is still 
operating? Provide an explanation for your response.
    3. What criteria should the NRC consider for a licensee to be able 
to use the decommissioning trust fund early for large component 
disposal? For example, the NRC could require a licensee to provide a 
site-specific decommissioning cost estimate at the time of a request 
for early access to funds. The NRC also could require annual reports 
that funds in the decommissioning trust will be adequate to meet the 
decommissioning cost estimate. Would such criteria be sufficient to 
ensure that adequate decommissioning funds will be available during 
decommissioning?
    4. Are there other innovative financial approaches that could be 
considered by the NRC or a licensee for dispositioning major 
radioactive components while a nuclear power plant is operating, while 
still ensuring that sufficient funds will be available for 
decommissioning? Provide an explanation for your response.

V. Conclusion

    The NRC has determined that the petition meets the threshold 
sufficiency requirements for docketing a petition for rulemaking under 
10 CFR 2.803. The NRC is examining the issues raised in PRM-50-119 to 
determine whether they should be considered in rulemaking.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of June, 2019.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-12342 Filed 6-11-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P