|
Important Dates
|
2016
March 2-3:
DOE-NE Transportation Core Group Meeting, Washington, DC
March 3-4:
Section 180(c) Proposed Policy Implementation Exercise Meeting, Washington, DC
March 6-10:
Waste Management Conference 2016, Phoenix, AZ:
Register here
More information
March 8 at 12:00 CST:
NTSF Newsletter Editorial Board Conference Call
March 9 at 12:00 CST:
NTSF Planning Committee Conference Call
March 15 at 1:00 pm CDT:
NTSF Webinar on Railroad Safety Inspection Disciplines (Pt. 2):
Register here
March 24 at 10:00 am CDT:
NTSF Planning Committee Conference Call
March 29 at 12:00 pm CDT:
Consent-based Siting Public Meeting, Chicago, IL:
Register here
Draft agenda
April 12 at 1:00 pm CDT:
NTSF Webinar on Railroad Safety Inspection Disciplines (Pt. 3)
May 16-18:
MERRTT Train-the-Trainer, Carlsbad, NM:
More information
June 7-9:
NTSF Annual Meeting 2016, Orlando, FL:
Save-the-Date
June 8:
MRMTC Spring Meeting, Orlando, FL
August 1-5:
DOE-TEPP Radiation Specialist Course, Boulder, CO:
More information
Register here
|
|
Join Our List
|
|
|
|
|
COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS
|
|
Lance's Departure a Major Loss for the Committee
|
|
|
Major Lance Evans at an underground tour of WIPP, December 2013
|
After five years of service on the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC), Major Lance Evans has announced he will be leaving his position in the Iowa Department of Transportation Office of Motor Vehicle Enforcement, and will no longer represent Iowa on the committee. Lance spent 22 years with the Iowa DOT and he will continue his dedication to public safety as Regional Safety Director with Great West Casualty Insurance. Lance's last day with the state will be March 17, and the committee will seek a new appointment for Iowa later this month. Lance's work on the MRMTC included serving as committee co-chair from 2012-2013 and hosting the Fall 2015 meeting in Des Moines. Lance's contributions have been greatly appreciated and his presence at future meetings will be missed. Best of luck to Lance in his new endeavors!
In meeting-related news, committee co-chairs Kelly Horn and Teri Engelhart will represent the Midwest at this week's meeting of the DOE Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Transportation Core Group. The meeting will take place on
March 2-3 in Washington, DC.
Finally, please remember to mark your calendars for the committee's spring meeting the afternoon of
June 8 in Orlando, FL, which is being held in conjunction with NTSF's Annual Meeting. Members will be reimbursed for travel and are encouraged to attend as much of the NTSF meeting as their schedule will permit. The NTSF meeting will take place on
June 7-9. Registration for both meetings will open this month, so keep an eye out for future announcements.
|
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
|
|
NTSF Events
This year's series of NTSF webinars continues on
March 15 at 1:00 pm CDT with the second of a three-part series on rail transportation, hosted by the
Rail/Routing Ad Hoc Working Group (AHWG). Part One of the series explored three rail safety inspection disciplines: Motive Power and Equipment, Signal and Train Control, and Track. Part Two will feature state rail experts discussing the remaining two disciplines: Operating Practices and Hazardous Materials. Attendees will also hear from Mike Calhoun with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) about the FRA's State Rail Safety Participation Program.
Registration is now open for the March 15 webinar. Watch your inbox for an announcement about Part Three, which will be held on April 12.
In AHWG news, volunteers involved in the
Section 180(c) Policy Implementation Exercise will meet in person on March 3-4 in Washington, DC, in conjunction with the DOE-NE Transportation Core Group meeting. The Exercise will be wrapping up at the NTSF Annual Meeting on
June 7-9 in Orlando, FL.
In other AHWG news, the Information and Communications AHWG made an exciting announcement about progress toward the first edition of a quarterly NTSF Newsletter. Joe Martinez, a new addition to DOE's Office of Environmental Management, has graciously adopted the role of editor-in-chief and will oversee the publication of the newsletter. A newly formed NTSF Newsletter Editorial Board will assist Joe in the production aspects of the publication. The Editorial Board will hold its first conference call on March 8 at 12:00 pm CST, with an anticipated distribution of the first newsletter in mid-May, prior to NTSF's Annual Meeting. The Information and Communications AHWG will also hold a conference call in March to discuss future plans for the group.
In annual meeting news, the
NTSF Planning Committee has conference calls scheduled for
March 9 at 12:00 pm CST and
March 24 at 10:00 am CDT to continue finalizing plans for breakout sessions and other programming during the July meeting in Orlando.
For up-to-date information about NTSF events and ad hoc working groups, visit the
NTSF wiki site.
Note that to view NTSF-related links in this article, you must be a member of the site. To become a member, visit the site and follow the instructions for joining.
|
FOCUS THIS MONTH
|
|
Not in My Backyard: North Dakota Community Puts the Brakes on Deep Borehole Test
A Department of Energy (DOE) deep borehole test project slated to take place in North Dakota has been put on hold due to opposition from residents of the area surrounding the proposed test site. KX News reported last month that the Pierce County Commission is now considering placing a permanent ban on deep borehole drilling, in addition to the temporary moratorium that was enacted in the beginning of February. The moratorium affects the area of Rugby, North Dakota -- where the test borehole would have been drilled.
On January 5, DOE announced that it had awarded a $35 million contract to Battelle Memorial Institute to drill a test borehole. In a DOE press release, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the project was intended to be "an important first step to increasing our scientific understanding of the potential uses for crystalline rock formations, including the feasibility of boreholes as an option for long term nuclear waste disposal."
The study, however, came as an unwelcome surprise to the elected officials and residents of Pierce County. In fact, nearly 300 Pierce County residents showed up to a mid-February town hall meeting with DOE officials, who reiterated the test was not indicative of future plans to store nuclear waste in North Dakota, as reported by the Bismarck Tribune. The Tribune quoted DOE's Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fuel Cycle Technologies Andy Griffith as saying, "This is not a nuclear project, this is a science project."
According to KX News, Griffith also emphasized the consent-based nature of the project, saying "the engineers and the scientists could say this is the perfect rock, this is the perfect geology, this is the perfect location, but...if the community is not willing to host such a facility there, we're not going to be interested in that site."
Despite these assurances, the Department has not issued any guarantees that the test boreholes will not be used for disposal of waste in the future. Residents appear to be unwilling to let the project go forward without such a guarantee.
"How can we know the science won't lead you right back here in 15 or 20 years?" asked one resident, as reported by KX News.
|
NUCLEAR NEWS
|
|
Ontario Deep Geologic Repository Faces Further Delays
On February 18, Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, requested "additional information and further studies on the environmental assessment" for the proposed Deep Geologic Repository in Ontario, near Lake Huron,
according to a public notice.
The proposal has been under fire from opponents for months and Minister McKenna was expected to make a decision whether or not to allow construction of the repository by the beginning of March. Now, the proponent of the project, Ontario Power Generation, has been given until April 18 to provide the requested supplemental information, and the timeline is paused.
Prairie Island Nuclear Plant Closing Early?
According to the
Bismarck Tribune, Xcel Energy has requested authorization from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to begin an 18-month study on the Prairie Island nuclear plant and the economics of potentially shutting down the two-reactor facility before its operating license expires in 2034.
The
Tribune reports that a decision on the plant's future could be reached as early as 2018 if Xcel is able to proceed with the study. The company will compare the cost of decommissioning to the expenditures required to continue operations.
Wisconsin Legislature Seeks Changes to State's Nuclear Policy
The Wisconsin State Legislature made progress last month on two nuclear-related policy changes. The first,
Assembly Bill 426, which was signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker in the beginning of February, authorizes the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) to issue a single-trip permit for the transport of radiological materials. The law also requires that the shipment be escorted by the Wisconsin State Patrol and that the permit include a designated route. WisDOT is required to notify local officials if an applicant's proposed route includes a highway under the jurisdiction of a local authority.
Currently awaiting Gov. Walker's signature is
Assembly Bill 384, which would remove the de facto moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants in Wisconsin. The bill passed both chambers of the Legislature, minus three failed amendments offered by Democratic members. The first attempted to make approval of a new plant contingent upon a county referendum. The second would have put the question about lifting the moratorium (and including advanced nuclear energy among the state's energy priorities) before the voters as a ballot referendum this November. The third tried to prevent new plants from being located in a county with a population of 750,000 or more. AB 384 was sent to the governor on February 17.
|
|
Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to
come out on April 5, 2016.
|
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.
|
|
|
