If you have not already done so, please remember to mark your calendars for the committee's next meeting on June 5 in Omaha, Nebraska. The meeting is being held in conjunction with the 2018 Annual Meeting of the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF), which is being co-hosted by the Midwest on June 4-7.

Presentations from the committee's fall meeting in Cincinnati have been posted online and a brief meeting recap can be found in the newsletter's third article. A complete meeting summary will be available later this month.

In more meeting news, CSG Midwest staff Lisa Janairo and Katelyn Tye-Skowronski will represent the Midwest at the Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee's (TRMTC) winter meeting in Omaha later this month. In addition to interacting with TRMTC members, Lisa and Katelyn will take the opportunity to conduct on-site planning for this year's NTSF meeting.

In other news, we are pleased to announce that Gov. Eric Holcomb has officially appointed Laura Dresen to represent Indiana on the committee and appointed Kaci Studer to serve as the state's alternate committee member. Laura and Kaci, both with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, have been active members of the committee in recent years. Congratulations to Laura and Kaci on their appointments! This month, CSG Midwest will send letters requesting committee appointments from governors in Kansas and Wisconsin, and follow up on previous requests made in North Dakota and Missouri. A current committee roster is available online.

NTSF News and Events

Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Fall 2017 Meeting Recap

On Dec. 13-14, 2017, the Midwest held its fall 2017 committee meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. The meeting was attended by representatives of states, Tribes, and federal agencies, as well as state regional group (SRG) and TRMTC staff.

During the first afternoon of the meeting, Kelly Horn (Illinois) and Mike Wiskerchen (Energy Solutions) presented on nuclear plant decommissioning and what it means for the states. This session was developed by the committee's meeting planning work group and reflected the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Project's focus on helping states get useful information related to radioactive waste shipments. Kelly went into detail about the impact decommissioning had on Illinois' low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) management program. He explained that, as a result of the Zion plant decommissioning, the state saw an increased number of LLRW shipments, they had to provide decommissioning oversight, and they had to adopt changes to the state's radiological environmental monitoring. In addition, he said some fee-based activities had to be renegotiated with Zion because the relevant state statutes and rules referred to "operating" reactors. He encouraged fellow committee members to make sure their states' rules apply to both operating and shutdown reactors.

Mr. Wiskerchen then discussed decommissioning from the perspective of Energy Solutions, which oversees decommissioning activities at Zion. He highlighted the importance of the company's communication with local communities, discussed how the transportation infrastructure was established, and explained how the company transitioned from highway to rail for its LLRW shipping campaigns.

On the second day of the meeting, Reinhard Knerr from DOE's Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) shared updates on the depleted uranium hexaflouride (DUF6) conversion project taking place at the former gaseous diffusion plants in Portsmouth, Ohio, and Paducah, Kentucky. The mission of the PPPO is to process 65,000 cylinders of DUF6 that are being store on the two sites. Mr. Knerr explained that the DUF6 needs to be converted into uranium oxide because, if released, it can mix with moisture in the air to form toxic gas. The committee first started following activities at Portsmouth and Paducah a decade ago, when the sites began decommissioning. At the committee's fall 2007 meeting, members toured the shutdown Portsmouth plant and the co-located conversion facility, which was under construction but nearly completed at the time.

Mr. Knerr explained that prior to initiating transportation and disposal of converted oxide, DOE must complete a supplemental environmental impact statement. He told attendees that DOE is considering three facilities for the uranium oxide disposal: Waste Control Specialists in Texas, the Nevada National Security Site, and the Energy Solutions' site in Clive, Utah. Committee members and other meeting attendees were assured that DOE's transportation planning process for the shipments would involve outreach to the states for consultation. DOE anticipates the conversion operations will continue at Portsmouth until the mid-2030's and at Paducah until the mid-2040's.

Meeting attendees also heard updates from DOE's Carlsbad Field Office and Office of Environmental Management's Office of Packaging and Transportation. Absent from the meeting were representatives of DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE). In November, DOE-NE informed the SRG and TRMTC staff that activities under the Department's spent nuclear fuel and waste disposition program were being dialed-back while the administration determines a new path forward and until Congress provides a budget or program direction. The SRGs and TRMTC are coordinating on appropriate actions to take to ensure states remain active in DOE's spent nuclear fuel and waste disposition program.

As noted in last month's newsletter, one highlight of the committee's business session was the election of Greg Gothard (Michigan) as committee co-chair in 2018-19. Kevin Leuer (Minnesota) will take the helm as senior co-chair in 2018, replacing Teri Engelhart (Wisconsin) who retired last year.

Also during the business session, committee members discussed the location for the 2018 fall meeting. Paul Schmidt (Wisconsin) noted that Wisconsin could be a good option if the committee was interested in inviting speakers from SHINE Medical Technologies and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, two Wisconsin-based companies. The committee will decide on the location and date of the fall meeting when it gathers in Omaha in June.

A final meeting attendance list, agenda, and action items, along with PDFs of all presentations, are now on the committee's webpage. A complete meeting summary will be posted online this month and linked to in the next newsletter.

A special thank you to committee members Kaci Studer and Greg Gothard for their help in planning the fall 2017 meeting agenda!

North Dakota Legislature Considers Regulating Nuclear Waste Disposal