[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 51 (Thursday, March 16, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16281-16282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05347]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2022-0190]


Comment on Report on Waste Burial Charges: Changes in 
Decommissioning Waste Disposal Costs at Low-Level Waste Burial 
Facilities

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Response to comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received a public 
comment from EnergySolutions to the draft report entitled, NUREG-1307, 
Revision 19, ``Report on Waste Burial Charges: Changes in 
Decommissioning Waste Disposal Costs at Low-Level Waste Burial 
Facilities.'' EnergySolutions' comment identified a cost escalation 
error that it had generated and used to develop unit disposal costs for 
the Clive, Utah, low-level waste disposal facility.

[[Page 16282]]

EnergySolutions subsequently submitted this information in July 2022, 
for the preparation of draft NUREG-1307, Revision 19. The erroneous 
unit disposal cost information was published in the draft and final 
NUREG-1307, Revision 19. The EnergySolutions' comment provided revised 
disposal cost information that would impact the waste burial escalation 
factors presented in NUREG-1307, Revision 19.

DATES: NUREG-1307, Revision 19, is available as of February 17, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to NRC-2022-0190 when contacting the NRC about 
the availability of information regarding this notice. You may obtain 
publicly available information related to this document using 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]. 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. ML23044A207.
     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 
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emil Tabakov, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6814, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Discussion

    The NRC published a notice in the Federal Register on November 29, 
2022 (87 FR 73345) requesting public comment on draft NUREG-1307, 
Revision 19, ``Report on Waste Burial Charges: Changes in 
Decommissioning Waste Disposal Costs at Low-Level Waste Burial 
Facilities.'' The public comment period on the draft NUREG closed on 
December 29, 2022. On February 17, 2023 (88 FR 10388) the NRC published 
the final NUREG-1307, Revision 19 (ADAMS Accession No. ML23044A207). 
The NRC had received two public comments (the February 17, 2023, 
Federal Register notice stated that four comments had been received), 
however, only one comment and the NRC's response to that comment was 
included in the comment resolution matrix available in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML23038A239.
    The NRC acknowledges that EnergySolutions submitted a notification 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML23010A223), dated December 28, 2022, 
characterized as a comment, on the draft NUREG. EnergySolutions 
communicated that it had identified errors in its cost escalation, 
resulting in disposal unit rate cost data that required revisions. The 
disposal unit rate cost data were first submitted in July 2022 for 
preparation of the draft NUREG. EnergySolutions' notification states 
``[a]n error in applying cost escalation occurred with the disposal 
unit rates provided in response to NUREG-1307 Rev 19 survey for non-
compact disposal rates.'' However, the staff recognized that revised 
disposal unit rate cost information provided by EnergySolutions in its 
notification was received too late to be evaluated and considered for 
inclusion in the development and issuance of the final NUREG-1307, 
Revision 19. The NRC staff determined it was not possible to make the 
conforming changes to Revision 19 without causing an undue delay in the 
publication of the NUREG-1307, Revision 19. A delay in publication 
would have negatively affected licensees required to submit 
decommissioning funding assurance status reports by March 31, 2023. 
Hence, the NRC will not reissue NUREG-1307, Revision 19 for this 
reporting period. However, NRC staff will consider revised data 
provided by EnergySolutions, on a case-by-case basis, when conducting 
its review of decommissioning funding assurance status reports 
submitted by licensees during the 2023 reporting period. A revised 
comment resolution matrix addressing the two comments received during 
the public comment period is available at ADAMS Accession No. 
ML23067A083.

II. Additional Information

    Pursuant to section 50.75 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), ``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. Every two years, 
licensees report this information, along with other decommissioning 
funding assurance information, to the NRC for review.
    Revision 19 of NUREG-1307, ``Report on Waste Burial Charges: 
Changes in Decommissioning Waste Disposal Costs at Low-Level Waste 
Burial Facilities,'' modifies Revision 18 to this report issued in 
January 2021 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21027A302) and incorporates updates 
to the adjustment factor, through changes to the labor, energy, and 
waste burial escalation factors, of the NRC minimum decommissioning 
fund formula. Based on revised low-level waste burial factors presented 
in the report and increases in labor and energy rates, the minimum 
decommissioning fund formula amounts calculated by all operating power 
reactor licensees likely will reflect moderate to more substantial 
increases when compared to those previously reported by licensees in 
2021.

    Dated: March 10, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Frederick R. Miller,
Chief, Financial Assessment Branch, Division of Rulemaking, 
Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety 
and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2023-05347 Filed 3-15-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P