[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73345-73346]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26018]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2022-0190]
Report on Waste Burial Charges: Changes in Decommissioning Waste
Disposal Costs at Low-Level Waste Burial Facilities
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft report entitled, NUREG-1307, Revision 19,
``Report on Waste Burial Charges: Changes in Decommissioning Waste
Disposal Costs at Low-Level Waste Burial Facilities.'' This report,
which is revised periodically, explains the formula acceptable to the
NRC for determining the minimum decommissioning fund requirements for
nuclear power reactor licensees, as required by NRC regulations.
Specifically, this report provides the adjustment factor and updates
the values for the labor, energy, and waste burial escalation factors
of the minimum formula.
DATES: Submit comments by December 29, 2022. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received
before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods;
however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website:
Federal rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0190. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual listed
[[Page 73346]]
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
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: Emil Tabakov, Office of Nuclear
Materials Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6814, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0190 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0190.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://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]. Draft NUREG-1307, Revision 19,
``Report on Waste Burial Charges: Changes in Decommissioning Waste
Disposal Costs at Low-Level Waste Burial Facilities,'' is available in
ADAMS under Accession No. ML22327A133.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make
an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between
8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2022-0190 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
https://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. Discussion
Pursuant to section 50.75 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, ``Reporting and recordkeeping for decommissioning
planning,'' the NRC requires nuclear power reactor licensees to adjust
annually, in current year dollars, their estimate of the cost to
decommission their plants. The annual updates are part of the process
for providing reasonable assurance that adequate funds for
decommissioning will be available when needed.
Revision 19 of NUREG-1307, ``Report on Waste Burial Charges:
Changes in Decommissioning Waste Disposal Costs at Low-Level Waste
Burial Facilities,'' modifies the previous revision to this report
issued in January 2021 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21027A302) and
incorporates updates to the adjustment factor and to the labor, energy,
and waste burial escalation factors of the NRC minimum decommissioning
fund formula. The minimum decommissioning fund formula amounts
calculated by licensees using the Barnwell low-level waste disposal
facility will be impacted by a significant increase in low-level waste
burial charge pricing at that site. Additionally, at the nation's three
other low-level waste disposal facilities, both moderate increases in
some, and decreases in other, low-level waste burial charges, coupled
with moderate increases in labor rates and near doubling of energy
rates for all licensees, likely will result in higher formula amounts
for all licensees. Thus, based on revised low-level waste burial
factors presented in this report and increases in labor and energy
rates, the minimum decommissioning fund formula amounts calculated by
licensees will likely reflect moderate to more substantial increases
when compared to those previously reported by licensees in 2021.
Dated: November 23, 2022.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Trent L. Wertz,
Acting Chief, Financial Assessment Branch, Division of Rulemaking,
Environment, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety
and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2022-26018 Filed 11-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P