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Important Dates
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September 18:
WIPP Tour Planning Call - 9 am
October 16:
Tour of WIPP for Midwestern Officials - Roswell, NM
October 23:
GA WIPP TAG Fall 2018 Meeting - Portland, OR
October 31-November 1:
MRMTC Fall 2018 Meeting - Madison, WI
November 28-29: NE Task Force Fall 2018 Meeting - Providence, RI
December 4-5: WIEB Fall 2018 Meeting - San Diego, CA
December 12-13:
SSEB Transportation Committees Fall 2018 Meeting - Austin, TX
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Join Our List
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COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS
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The Committee's Fall meeting will be held on October 31 and November 1, 2018, in Madison, WI. The venue for the meeting will be the Edgewater Hotel and registration is now open through CSG's online member engagement system.
Attendees of the Midwestern Committee's fall meeting will hear presentations from SHINE Medical Technologies and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, the Midwest's two manufacturers of medical isotopes. The meeting agenda will also include a presentation from the nucle
ar industry in addition to the routine state and federal updates. Finally, a tour of the University of Wisconsin research reactor is being organized in conjunction with the Committee's fall meeting.
The Midwest Committee will be electing a new co-chair at the fall meeting to serve in 2019 and 2020. The new co-chair will be expected to attend the Transportation Core Group meetings held by DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, which are expected to resume on an annual basis in 2019.
Staff thank the Committee members for submitting updates for the
Planning Guide,
which serves as a resource for entities that carry out shipments of radioactive material through the Midwestern states.
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
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NTSF Updates
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DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) has informed the states and Tribes that it intends to resume the activities of the NTSF Rail/Routing Ad Hoc Working Group (AHWG) in the coming weeks. The group will start by wrapping up items from the Routing Workshop conducted last summer, and then turn toward developing a reciprocal rail safety inspection protocol.
As mentioned in the Committee Update above, DOE-NE also plans to resume annual meetings of the Transportation Core Group, with a meeting anticipated in Washington, DC, in the spring or summer of 2019.
Erica Bickford has announced that she will be on a six-month interagency rotation beginning October 1st. Jay Jones will be the federal lead for NTSF activities in her absence. Work of the Rail/Routing AHWG will also be supported by Matt Feldman and Steve Maheras.
Plannin
g for this year's NTSF webinars continues. Staff from the Western Governors' Association and Western Interstate Energy Board are hard at work coordinating webinar plans. Webinars on WIPP Road Shows and Tribal Transportation Practices
are expected to be held in the coming months.
After much discussion, DOE decided that the affected units of local government will not be NTSF members. These entities are welcome to attend NTSF meetings, which are open to the public, but NTSF membership will remain limited to federal, state, and tribal officials.
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| FOCUS THIS MONTH |
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Bryan Tuma, Senator Suzanne Geist, Lt. Governor Mike Foley, James Mason, Nikki Weber were in attendance at the Waverly Scales stop in Nebraska.
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WIPP Road Show Comes to the Midwest
A road show featuring a truck loaded with three empty shipping containers traveled through Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska from August 20th through 23rd. The road show, which was carried out in preparation for shipments from Argonne National Lab to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), traveled along the expected shipping route and made stops in seven localities. The Road Show provided an opportunity for local officials, first responders, and the general public to observe the trucks, trailers, and shipping casks that are used for shipments and to learn about transportation safety protocols.
The WIPP Road Show began with a stop in Joliet, IL, before continuing along Interstate 80 and making stops in Davenport, Des Moines, and Avoca, IA. In Nebraska, stops were made at Waverly Scales, Grand Island, North Platte, and Kimball.
During stops on the road show, DOE representatives and state officials provided attendees with information about the WIPP transportation program and answered questions. The truck drivers and inspectors from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance were also available to respond to questions.
The states that participated in the WIPP Road Show report that the events were successful, with attendance from emergency management agencies, local first responders, state police, public health officials, and several policymakers.
Shipments from Argonne to WIPP are expected to begin this fall or next spring and take place at a pace of about five shipments per year. More than 12,200 shipments have been conducted without significant incident since
WIPP began accepting waste in 1999. The WIPP facility was temporarily closed in
February 2014 after two onsite incidents
and shipments were halted until the facility reopened in April 2017.
An article in the
Grand Island Independent can be found
here.
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NUCLEAR NEWS
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Resumption of WCS License Review
In
letters to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) dated June 8, 2018 and July 18, 2018, Interim Storage Partners (ISP), which is a join
t venture between Waste Control Specialists (WCS) and Orano CIS, asked the NRC to resume its review
of the application for the WCS Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) proposed
inAndrews, TX.
WCS initially submitted its license application to construct and operate a facility for the Independent Storage
of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and Reactor-Related Greater Than Class C Waste
in April 2016. The facility would be constructed on a 14,900 acre site
in western Andrews County, TX on which WCS currently operates facilities that process and store Low-Level Waste and Mixed Waste. On April 18, 2017, WCS asked NRC to temporarily suspend all safety and environmental review activities related to the CISF.
In its correspondence to NRC, ISP submitted Revision 2
of the License Application, which included a revised Safety Analysis Report and Environmental Report. NRC's administrative completeness
review determined that the revised application is acceptable for a technical review.
In order for a license to be issued for the WCS facility the NRC will need to make the findings required by the
Atomic Energy Act
of
1954 and the NRC's own regulations.
The
Federal Register Notice can be found
here.
Thanks to Kelly Horn for sharing this story!
IAEA Publication on Education and Training
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), through its Safety Report Series, has published A Methodology for Establishing a National Strategy for Education and Training in Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety.
The IAEA is authorized to establish standards of safety for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property, and to provide for the application of these standards. These standards are adopted through the IAEA Safety Standards Series, which covers nuclear safety, radiation safety, transport safety, and waste safety.
T
he
new Methodology,which is aimed at national regulatory bodies and decision makers, offers a detailed methodology forestablishing a national strategy for education and training in radiation, transport, and waste safety.The Methodologyprovides guidance on assessing education and training needs, taking into account the legal and regulatory framework. It then covers how to design a national education and training program based on these identified needs. The document further provides guidance on how national resources can be optimized to complement external resources.
A practical example of the application of the methodology, based on a hypothetical country, is provided, and the methodology has been tested by more than 300 participants in 20 regional workshops.
An electronic version of the Methodology can be found
here
.
Thanks to Steve Maheras for sharing this story!
NRC to Conduct Investigation at San Onofre
A fuel-loading incident that occurred at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on August 3, 2018, has spurred a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) investigation. The incident, which involved a loaded fuel storage canister that was being lowered into an underground storage vault becoming stuck, will be evaluated by an NRC Special Inspection team beginning on September 10.
San Onofre is located in San Clemente, CA, and was shut down permanently in 2013. Southern California Edison, the plant owner, has indicated to the NRC that they will refrain from moving fuel into the storage vault until the NRC review of the incident is complete.
The week-long inspection will include evaluation of the plant owner's analysis of the cause of the event and corrective actions being taken. The NRC's findings will be documented in a publicly-available report within 45 days of when the inspection is complete.
To read coverage by the San Diego Union-Tribune
, click
here
.
Thanks to Steve Maheras for sharing this story!
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Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on
October 4, 2018.
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Missed a newsletter? Past issues are
archived
on the committee's webpage.
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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-EM0004869, and DE-EM0005168.
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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