[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]
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