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Important Dates
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Feb. 16 at 12:00 pm Central: NTSF Planning Committee Call
Feb. 23 at 10:00 am Central: SRG Core Group Strategizing Call
Feb. 23 at 1:00 pm Central: Spent Fuel Transportation Materials AHWG Call
Feb. 28: Execution Strategy Analysis Tool Workshop, Washington, DC
March 1-2: Transportation Core Group Meeting, Washington, DC
March 5-9: Waste Management Symposium 2017, Phoenix, AZ:
More information
March 13 at 11:00 am Central: NTSF Planning Committee Call
March 28 at 1:00 pm Central: NTSF Webinar on Section 180(c) Exercise: Next Steps and Lessons Learned
May 24 at 1:00 pm Central: NTSF Newcomers Orientation Webinar
June 5-8: NTSF 2017 Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA |
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COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS
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Committee Happenings
As promised in previous editions of the newsletter, a complete summary of the Committee's fall meeting in St. Louis is now available online.
In other meeting-related news, Committee co-chairs Teri Engelhart (Wisconsin) and Kevin Leuer (Minnesota) will represent the Midwest at an upcoming meeting of the Department of Energy-Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Transportation Core Group. The meeting will take place on March 1-2 in Washington, DC. State representatives and regional staff who are attending the Core Group meeting will hold a preparatory conference call to discuss background information on meeting agenda items and possible talking points reflecting consensus among the regions. The Midwest will host the call on February 23 at 10:00 am Central.
A reminder to committee members, please check out the Committee's Legislative Tracker, which has been updated to reflect federal and Midwestern state legislation introduced since the start of 2017. The tracker is updated manually by staff, so if you are aware of any legislation that should be added or updated, please contact Katelyn Tye at ktye@csg.org.
Finally, please remember to mark your calendars for June 8, 2017, the date of the Committee's Spring Meeting, which is being held in conjunction with the 2017 National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh. Registration for both meetings is expected to open in March.
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
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NTSF News and Events
In NTSF Planning Committee news, the committee continues to hold monthly conference calls to develop the agenda for the 2017 NTSF Annual Meeting, which will be held in
Pittsburgh on June 5-8. The next two calls are scheduled for February 16 and March 13. The committee also continues to oversee the activities of NTSF ad hoc working groups (AHWG).
In other Planning Committee news, CSG Midwest will complete the hotel search for the 2018 NTSF Annual Meeting by the end of March. Due to hotel availability, the meeting will either be held in Indianapolis or Cleveland, the top two locations recommended by the Midwest as host cities. Stay tuned!
In webinar news, due to unforeseen scheduling difficulties, the NTSF Webinar "Draft Consent-Based Siting Process Overview and Discussion," planned for February 15,
has been cancelled. The next webinar, which will cover lessons learned during the Section 180(c) Exercise, is scheduled for
March 28 at 1:00 pm Central. Registration information for the March 28 webinar will be shared with NTSF participants soon. Planning Committee members are also developing an agenda for an NTSF Newcomers Orientation webinar, which will be held on
May 24 at 1:00 pm Central, and is intended for first time attendees of the NTSF Annual Meeting.
In AHWG news, the Spent Fuel Transportation Materials AHWG will hold its next conference call on
February 23 at 1:00 pm Central to go over revised versions of three draft fact sheets from DOE-NE. AHWG members proposed revisions to the fact sheets following a call with Giulia Bisconti (DOE-NE) last month.
Finally, the submission deadline for articles that will be included in the next edition of the NTSF Newsletter is
coming up on February 9. Please send any submissions via email to the newsletter's Managing Editor
Joe Martinez (DOE Office of Environmental Management) before then.
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FOCUS THIS MONTH
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January Brings a Flurry of Federal Activity Related to Nuclear Energy, Waste Storage
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On January 12, DOE released the
Draft Consent-Based Siting Process for Consolidated Storage and Disposal Facilities for Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste. According to the document, the draft process offers preliminary views on siting considerations for federal spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste storage and disposal facilities; outlines DOE's current thinking regarding specific steps and broader design principles for implementing a consent-based siting process; and reflects the input gathered from a wide range of participants in DOE's earlier outreach efforts, as well as the findings of several expert groups that have reviewed these issues.
Interested parties can respond to the
Request for Public Comment in the
Federal Register until
April 14. Requests for further information should be sent to Andrew Griffith at
consentbasedsiting@hq.doe.gov.
In other news related to siting, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on January 31
released a report that recommends DOE revisit the costs and benefits of establishing a separate repository for defense waste. The report argues that DOE's cost-benefit analysis for having separate repositories for commercial and defense waste (included in the 2015
Report on Separate Disposal of Defense High-Level Radioactive Waste) did not account for billions of dollars in costs related to site selection and characterization. According to the report highlights, "GAO recommends that DOE (1) assess benefits, costs, and schedule estimates, and (2) reassess its decision to conduct site selection activities. DOE agreed on the need for a more thorough assessment, but disagreed on the need to reassess site selection activities, citing benefits of its approach." As reported in last month's committee newsletter, DOE released a
Draft Plan for a Defense Waste Repository for public comment on December 16, 2016.
In more siting news, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced on January 26 that it had docketed, and accepted for formal review, a license application from Waste Control Specialists (WCS) to build and operate a spent nuclear fuel consolidated interim storage facility in Andrews, TX. The NRC is now gathering public input on an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed storage site via a notice in the
Federal Register, and will be holding two public meetings near the WCS facility. According to the
NRC announcement, the meetings will be held on February 13 in Hobbs, NM, and February 15 in Andrews, TX. Yet-to-be-scheduled meetings at NRC headquarters in Rockville, MD, will be posted on the agency's
public meeting schedule.
Meanwhile, numerous pieces of federal legislation relating to the siting of a waste storage facility have been introduced by members of Congress:
- H.R. 433: The Sensible Nuclear Waste Disposition Act (sponsored by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-SC) prohibits the Secretary of Energy from planning, developing, or constructing a defense waste repository until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made a final decision with respect to the construction authorization application for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository.
- H.R. 456: The Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act (sponsored by Rep. Dina Titus, D-NV) requires the Secretary of Energy to obtain the consent of affected State and local governments before making an expenditure from the Nuclear Waste Fund for a nuclear waste repository. (Companion to S. 95)
- H.R. 474: The Interim Consolidated Storage Act (sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA) amends the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to authorize the Secretary of Energy to enter into contracts for the storage of certain high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, take title to certain high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, and make certain expenditures from the Nuclear Waste Fund.
- S. 95: The Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act (sponsored by Sen. Dean Heller, R-NV) requires the Secretary of Energy to obtain the consent of affected State and local governments before making an expenditure from the Nuclear Waste Fund for a nuclear waste repository. (Companion to H.R. 456)
All four bills have been assigned to their respective House and Senate committees where they will await hearings. For more information about legislation introduced at the federal level and in Midwestern state legislatures, visit the Committee's online
Legislative Tracker.
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A screenshot of Gov. Rick Perry's Senate nomination hearing on January 19, 2017.
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In other federal news, on January 31, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 17-6 to approve Gov. Rick Perry's nomination to be secretary of DOE, sending it to the full Senate for a vote, reported
The Hill. During the nomination hearing, held earlier in the month,
Gov. Perry said he regretted remarks he had made years earlier that DOE should be abolished, saying, the statements "do not reflect my current thinking." When asked about the possibility of a Yucca Mountain repository in the future, Gov. Perry said he was open to looking at storage sites outside "what we have historically looked at before," but would not expressly rule out the option.
In more appointment news, President Trump appointed Kristine Svinicki to be chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on January 26, according to
S&P Global Platts. According to Platts, Ms. Svinicki, a nuclear engineer and former DOE employee, also spent more than 10 years as a Senate aide before her arrival at the NRC in 2008. She replaces NRC Commissioner Stephen G. Burns, who was appointed by President Obama to serve as chairman in January 2015.
In other staffing changes,
Exchange Monitor reported on January 24, that Sue Cange would be replacing Monica Regalbuto as a temporary acting assistant secretary for DOE's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM). President Trump has not yet nominated a permanent successor for Dr. Regalbuto, who will remain at DOE-EM as a senior technical adviser, according to
Exchange Monitor. Ms. Cange has been with DOE about 30 years, and joined DOE-EM headquarters from the Oak Ridge site late last year.
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NUCLEAR NEWS
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South Dakota Borehole Project Launches Public Website
Following last month's DOE announcement that RESPEC, a South Dakota-based company, was one of four companies selected to begin exploring the possibility of conducting a deep borehole field test, the company launched a website to provide the public with more information about the project.
The website, Drill Deeper South Dakota, features this technical information about the bore hole test, which--if chosen by DOE--will take place at a site near Philip, SD.
The website also mentions the project's support for recently introduced state legislation (HB 1071) that would require the approval of the Governor and the Legislature before any high level nuclear waste may be processed or deposited in South Dakota. The legislation would not affect the borehole test, which specifically prohibits the storage, disposal, or use of nuclear waste.
Under the DOE award, RESPEC, and the other three companies that were selected, are required to gain support from their local community for the bore hole project. DOE will ultimately choose one awardee to move forward with the test.
Kewaunee Power Station Entitled to $12M in Tax Refunds Under Settlement
The
Green Bay Press-Gazette reported last month that Dominion Energy Kewaunee Inc. is entitled to $11.9 million in refunds and/or credits for excess 2015 and 2016 property taxes paid by the shuttered Kewaunee Power Station, according to an agreement between the plant owner and the town of Carlton.
The refunds will be paid by the Kewaunee School District, Kewaunee County, and the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College within 10 years, once a judge has accepted the agreement. According to the
Press-Gazette, the overpayments were collected based on an assessed value that Dominion argued far exceeded the plant's value.
The article notes that the new agreement will result in the plant paying significantly less in property taxes over the next eight years, a phenomenon that has created economic difficults in other communities that host shuttered nuclear plants.
FEMA Finalizes Nuclear/Radiological Incident Annex
FEMA announced recently it had finalized the
Nuclear/Radiological Incident Annex to the Federal Interagency Operational Plans, a guidance document for federal, state, tribal, and local entities involved in planning for nuclear or radiological incidents.
According to the document overview, the
Annex is composed of a base document and three branch plans for suspected or actual deliberate attacks, inadvertent incidents, and international incidents.
Thank you to Steve Maheras (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) for passing along this announcement.
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Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on March 9, 2017 (postponed for the Core Group Meeting).
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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-NE0008604, 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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