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Important Dates
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Aug. 17-18: DOE-NFST Core Group Meeting, Chicago, IL
Aug. 24 at 7:00 am to 4:00 pm CDT: Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board Summer 2016 Meeting
Register for webcast
Aug. 29 at 12:00 pm CDT:
NTSF Planning Committee Conference Call
Nov. 2-3:
Northeast High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Task Force Fall Meeting, Atlantic City, NJ
Nov. 29-30: Rail/Routing AHWG Meeting (in conjunction with MRMTC meeting), St. Louis, MO
Nov. 30-Dec. 1: MRMTC Fall Meeting, St. Louis, MO
Dec. 7-8: Southern States Energy Board Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Winter Meeting, Location TBD
Dec. 13-14 OR 14-15: Western Interstate Energy Board High-Level Radioactive Waste Committee Fall Meeting, Tempe, AZ
2017
June 6-8:
NTSF 2017 Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA
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Join Our List
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COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS
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Fall Meeting Planning Continues 
If you have not already done so, please remember to mark your calendars for the committee's fall meeting on
November 30-December 1 in St. Louis, Missouri. The MRMTC is currently searching for a host hotel for the meeting. Stay tuned for more updates, including information about meeting registration.
The National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) Rail/Routing Ad Hoc Working Group (AHWG) has confirmed it will meet in conjunction with the MRMTC on
November 29-30. The meetings will be scheduled so that individuals who are members of both groups will not have to miss out on either meeting. Please contact
Lisa Janairo with any meeting-related questions.
As promised in last month's edition of the MRMTC newsletter, a 12-page summary of the committee's June meeting in Orlando is now available on the
MRMTC Spring 2016 Meeting webpage, along with a final attendance list and action items.
Committee co-chairs Kelly Horn (Illinois) and Teri Engelhart (Wisconsin), with staff support from Lisa, recently completed the action item to develop the committee's response to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Invitation for Public Comment on the Consent-Based Siting Process. The transportation-related comments were submitted on behalf of the MRMTC on July 28. Please see the newsletter's
third article for more information and a copy of the comments.
On August 17-18, Kelly, Teri, and CSG Midwest staff will represent the committee at the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Transportation Core Group meeting in Chicago. Next month's newsletter will have a recap of the meeting, which is being hosted by the Midwest.
In other committee news, the second part in a webinar series on nuclear waste policy, co-hosted by CSG Midwest, was held on July 26, and a recording is now available online. The webinar explored two proposed private solutions for the consolidated storage of the nation's spent fuel and provided insight into DOE's consent-based siting effort. The webinar is discussed in further detail in the newsletter's third article.
 Lastly, an updated version of the committee's Planning Guide for Shipments of Radioactive Materials through the Midwestern States is now available online. The state information in the Planning Guide is updated periodically, and it is time to look at revisions to the recommended practices section, which is edited on a biennial basis. If committee members are interested in volunteering to review and consider changes to the Planning Guide's current recommended practices, please email
Katelyn Tye
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
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NTSF News and Events
The NTSF Planning Committee held a conference call on July 20 to begin planning for next year's annual meeting, which will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 6-8, 2017. Members also discussed results from the online survey that was distributed after the NTSF meeting in Orlando. The survey asked for opinions about the meeting sessions, speakers, and accommodations, and preferences for future webinar topics.
On the conference call, the Planning Committee decided to form a webinar subcommittee to work with CSG Midwest staff on developing the FY 2017 series of NTSF webinars. Rochelle Batdorf (Ohio), a new member of the MRMTC, volunteered to serve on the subcommittee along with Jim Williams (Western Interstate Energy Board) and either Mike Wangler or Demitrous Blount from DOE's Office of Environmental Management. The group will put together a preliminary webinar schedule using feedback from the June survey, which indicated that NTSF members are most interested in seeing webinars on the concept of shipment operations and transportation incident response.
In other NTSF news, the Information & Communications AHWG has started reviewing a one-pager about state and tribal involvement in planning for the implementation of Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
Lastly, the Rail/Routing AHWG will be meeting on November 29-30 in St. Louis, Missouri, in conjunction with the Midwest's fall meeting. |
FOCUS THIS MONTH
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Map of consent-based siting public meeting locations (From U.S. Department of Energy) |
DOE Concludes Consent-Based Siting Public Meeting Series in Minneapolis
Last month, DOE wrapped up a series of public meetings to gather input on a consent-based approach to managing the nation's nuclear waste. The Department held a July 14 meeting in Boise, Idaho, before heading to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the eighth and final meeting in the series.
MRMTC representatives Kevin Leuer (Minnesota), Paul Schmidt (Wisconsin), and Lisa Janairo (CSG Midwest), attended the Minneapolis meeting, which was held on July 21.
After opening remarks from Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioner John Tuma and DOE Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy John Kotek, attendees heard perspectives from four panelists on issues related to consent-based siting. The panelists were Shelley Buck, president of the Prairie Island Indian Community, Rod McCullum with the Nuclear Energy Institute, Doug Scott with the Great Plains Institute, and Kathryn Shaver with Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization.
As in past consent-based siting meetings, a group of anti-nuclear advocates in attendance were not hesitant about making themselves heard. According to
a transcript of the July 21 meeting, at one point, an unidentified audience member interrupted Acting Assistant Secretary Kotek's remarks to express their objections using a
Green Eggs and Ham-style poem, reciting:
"I will not take it here or there;
I will not take it anywhere.
I do not like radioactive waste;
I do not like it anyplace."
Written summaries, transcripts, videos and other materials from all eight consent-based siting meetings are available on the DOE website.
One of DOE's next steps in the consent-based siting initiative will be to compile all of the public input it has received into a draft report. In addition to the comments that were provided during consent-based siting meetings, DOE gathered written comments through an Invitation for Public Comment in the Federal Register, which closed on July 31.
At the MRMTC spring meeting in Orlando, Florida, committee members expressed interest in submitting comments that focused on the transportation-related aspects of an integrated waste management system. As a result, such comments were developed by the committee co-chairs and staff, and were submitted to DOE,
in the form of a letter,
on July 28. The letter expressed the desire of the states to engage in transportation planning and preparations, urged DOE to consider accessibility when evaluating the suitability of a potential disposal site, and stressed the importance of DOE developing a thoughtful answer to the question of whether consent will be sought for transportation.
In other news related to consent-based siting, on July 26, CSG Midwest co-hosted the second webinar in a series to help state government officials learn more about nuclear waste disposal. The webinar featured presentations from Andrew Griffith of DOE-NE, Betsy Madru with Waste Control Specialists, and John Heaton with the Eddy Lea Energy Alliance. Mr. Griffith provided insight into DOE's consent-based siting effort, while Ms. Madru and Mr. Heaton discussed their organizations' proposals for private interim storage facilities in New Mexico and Texas, respectively. A recording of the webinar and presentation slides are available on the CSG website.
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NUCLEAR NEWS
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New Federal Legislation Would Compensate Communities Storing Spent Nuclear Fuel at Shutdown Sites
A bipartisan group of congressional legislators last month--including Reps. Bob Dold (Illinois) and Reid Ribble (Wisconsin)--introduced a bill to compensate the 13 communities that are struggling with the costs of storing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at shutdown reactor sites.
Under the
Stranded Nuclear Waste Accountability Act of 2016 (H.R. 5632), communities, such as Zion, Illinois, and Lacrosse and Kewaunee, Wisconsin, in the Midwest, would be eligible for annual payments of $15 per kilogram of stored SNF. The Act would appropriate $100 million for each of fiscal years 2017 to 2023.
According to a
press release from bill co-sponsor Rep. Joe Courtney (Connecticut), the compensation would come from the Nuclear Waste General Fund, and the Midwestern locations would receive the following estimated amounts each year:
- Zion, Illinois: $15,291,000
- Kewaunee, Wisconsin: $7,780,500
- LaCrosse, Wisconsin: $570,000
The bill was introduced on July 6 and assigned to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
South Dakota Finds DOE Project Un-bore-able
Last month, DOE officially scrapped a $35 million project that would have studied the feasibility of nuclear waste storage in deep boreholes, reports E&E Publishing's
Greenwire.
As covered in previous editions of the MRMTC newsletter, DOE and Battelle Memorial Institute originally planned to drill a three-mile-deep test borehole near Rugby, North Dakota, but local officials responded by placing a moratorium on deep borehole drilling in the county. The Department then attempted to work with residents and elected officials in Spink County, South Dakota, on siting the project there, but those efforts were rebuffed, as well.
According to
Greenwire, a DOE legislative affairs specialist said the Department will issue a new competitive solicitation in the coming weeks with "modified requirements, taking into account the lessons learned from our efforts thus far."
Ohio State University Will Receive DOE Grant to Research Nuclear Waste Disposal
The Ohio State University was chosen by DOE last month to host a new research center for studying the disposal of legacy waste from nuclear weapons testing in the 20th century, according to a press release issued by the university.
According to the release, the project will not involve the use of any radioactive waste, but researchers hope to discover cleanup and storage technologies that can be used in the future.
The Center for Performance and Design of Nuclear Waste Forms and Containers will become one of 36 Energy Frontier Research Centers created by DOE to assist in the environmental cleanup of waste from weapons research.
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Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on September 1, 2016.
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Please do not reproduce or create new content from this material without the prior express written permission of CSG Midwest.
This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Numbers DE-NE0000555, DE-EM0002121, and DE-EM00002327.
This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.
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