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Important Dates
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April 8:
Planning Guide Review Work Group Conference Call - 2 PM*
April 16:
April 24-25:
April 29:
Decommissioning Guidance for State Work Group Conference Call - 11 AM*
April 29-May 3:
May 6-9:
May 7-9:
May 8:
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Conference Call - 9 AM*
May 21:
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) Transportation Tabletop Exercise - Prairie Island, MN
June 3-7:
June 10-13:
June 10-14:
June 11:
MRMTC Spring Meeting - Arlington, VA
August 4-9:
August 19-22:
August 21-22:
Transportation Core Group Meeting - Washington, DC
September 9-13:
*All times are CST
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Join Our List
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COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS
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| MRMTC's Spring Meeting Will Be in the Nation's Capital |
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The Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) encourages its members to register for the MRMTC Spring Meeting in Arlington, VA, in June. Since the MRMTC Spring Meeting will happen in conjunction with the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) Annual Meeting, registration for both meetings can be found in the link provided in the sidebar calendar.
March was a relatively quiet month for MRMTC appointments compared to this year's early months. With that being said, the committee is pleased to welcome back Paul Schmidt as Wisconsin's alternate member. The Chief of the Radiation Protection Section of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services brings many years of experience and knowledge to the committee. As a member of the
Planning Guide
Review Work Group, Paul has been helping the MRMTC develop its 2019 version of the
Planning Guide for Shipments of Radioactive Materials through the Midwestern States.
Thank
you Paul!
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Paul Schmidt, Chief of the Radiation Protection Section of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services |
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is in the beginning stage
of creating community engagement panels near decommissioning nuclear power plants. In order to expedite the process, the NRC is seeking public comment on potential meeting locations to discuss said panels. These community engagement panels are necessitated by the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, signed into law in January. Find instructions on how to submit comments
here.
Finally, the various MRMTC Work Groups have continued their work in the last month. Updates from the Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group can be found in the Focus This Month section below. The Decommissioning Guidance for States Work Group created a survey that was completed by several stakeholders nationwide who have experience with decommissioning nuclear power plants. The information from this survey will help in the creation of a tri-fold brochure that will contain important information for state actors about what to expect and what to plan for when a nuclear power plant in their jurisdiction is entering, or about to enter, decommissioning. All four of the committee work groups will report on their progress during the June 11 meeting.
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
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 The Western Interstate Energy Board's (WIEB) High-Level Radioactive Waste Committee (HLRWC) has produced a series of policy papers condensing the committee's experiences with various nuclear waste transportation programs during its history. The first five of these policy papers will be presented on April 16th, at 11:00 AM CDT. Registration for the webinar can be found in the sidebar calendar. Some of the policy paper titles include "Physical Protection Requirements for Spent Nuclear Fuel Transport" and "Rail Shipment Inspection." A second "Part 2" webinar covering the rest of the HLRWC policy papers will occur in the coming months. A newcomer's orientation webinar is in the works and will be presented shortly before the NTSF 2019 Annual Meeting. The hoped for, NTSF sponsored, webinar on Greater-than-Class C (GTCC) Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLW) will likely not take place in the near future.
On the topic of the NTSF 2019 Annual Meeting, registration is now open! Please find the link to the National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) registration website in the sidebar calendar. As always, committee members who need confirmation that CSG Midwest will reimburse their travel to the MRMTC Spring Meeting and the NTSF Annual Meeting should contact
Mitch Arvidson.
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| FOCUS THIS MONTH |
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Co-Chair Greg Gothard Reaches Out to Tribes at Michigan Meeting
Since January, MRMTC's Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group has been very busy.
The impetus for forming this work group gained traction last y
ear.
The Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee's (TRMTC) hosting of this year's Annual NTSF Meeting and the hosting of an October webinar explaining the role and authority of tribal governments in matters of radioactive waste transportation have truly highlighted the need for increased engagement. Tribes will be affected by shipments just as much as the region's states will be, therefore it is important for them to have the same opportunities to receive training and information like the states.
Based on the group's first call, and upon the recommendations of those with tribal engagement experience, it became clear to the members that the first point of business for the work group was to build relationships with the Midwest's Tribes. To increase outreach and engagement, the MRMTC is coordinating with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the NRC to tap these agencies' established networks.
It is not enough, however, to rely solely on these pre-established networks. With this in mind, the MRMTC's co-chair Greg Gothard, reached out to the Environmental Justice and Tribal Liaison for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). This liaison informed Greg of the existence of a Michigan Tribal Environmental Group and that there was a meeting coming up. With the help of the liaison, he was able to get a spot on the meeting's agenda to give a presentation about the MRMTC.
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| MRMTC Co-Chair Greg Gothard presenting at the annual meeting of the Michigan Tribal Environmental Group |
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Greg received great feedback and questions following his presentation. "Some of the questions were a little more informed [than the general public]. They wanted to know how the transporters of the waste and the spent fuel are trained," he said. Other questions included how a rail route is formed from Michigan to New Mexico, what is the track record of radioactive materials transportation (RMT), would shipments of spent fuel start at Big Rock Point or Palisades first?
Greg's advice to other state agencies that want to increase their engagement with tribal groups would be to find your state's liaison or create one if there isn't such a position. Get on the agenda for meetings to present information about radioactive materials transportation. Tribes in the Midwest and around the country are highly engaged with environmental issues and just need to be made more aware of RMT-related issues.
So, what's next? "We are going to increase engagement. One of the tribes that was there [at the meeting] is located right there on the Michigan-Indiana border, right in the area of Cook and Palisades and had questions specific to those plants... Their Tribe wants to be proactive in this stuff, they asked about transportation routes, they asked if certain highways were being used, I said let's have further discussions on this." Greg is working to further connect the Tribe with Committee Co-Chair Kaci Studer (Indiana), TRMTC, and the MRMTC. In June, the work group will present recommendations to the full committee for increasing engagement with the region's tribal governments.
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NUCLEAR NEWS
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What President Trump's Budget Means for Yucca Mountain
President Trump's budget request for FY 2020 includes a total of $31.7 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE), $1.1 billion more than his administration's FY 2019 request. Below are some highlights of the budget request related to nuclear energy.
- $23.7 billion to modernize nuclear defense, continue work at major nuclear cleanup sites, and improve cyber-security
- $824 million for the Office of Nuclear Energy
- $116 million for Yucca Mountain and Interim Storage Program
- $6.5 billion for the Office of Environmental Management for cleanup of 16 sites in 11 states
Speaking to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy, Energy Secretary Rick Perry defended the budget request's restarting of the Yucca Mountain licensing hearings. "If we don't do this, in some sort of fashion, we have 38 repositories, and it's in every one of your states." Secretary Perry was referring to the de facto storage of nuclear waste at the power plants and military facilities at which the waste was created.
The DOE breakdown of the budget request can be found
here.
Further coverage, including responses from Nevada officials, can be found in the
Pahrump Valley Times.
Devastating Midwest Floods Did Not Threaten Nebraska's Nuclear Power Plants
Mid-March's "bomb cyclone" brought heavy rainfall to the Midwest and combined with melting snow to produce large-scale flooding in several states. Although the flood is severe, it did not pose major issues to Nebraska's two nuclear power plants along the Missouri River.
North of Omaha, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station is being decommissioned by the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD). The OPPD reported that the spent nuclear fuel on the property sits on a highly elevated concrete pad and was not threatened by the rising water levels.
South of Omaha, the Cooper Nuclear Station continued operations for all nine days of its Notice of Unusual Event status. The alert status is triggered whenever the Missouri River reaches 899 feet above mean sea level. The water level dropped below this mark on Sunday, March 24.
In Remembrance of Bill Mackie
The MRMTC and, indeed, the entire nuclear waste transportation community suffered a tremendous loss last week with the passing of our good friend Bill Mackie. As a person, Bill could best be described as gruff but lovable. He had a big heart, which showed in all his dealings with the Midwestern staff. His sharp wit and good
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Bill Mackie speaking at an event at Argonne National Lab. |
humor were on full display during his years-long competition with Kelly Horn to outdo one another with pranks and friendly ribbing. Many of us last had a chance to work regularly with Bill when he served as the Institutional Affairs Manager at DOE's Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO). Long-timers knew him before that as the coordinator of the WGA Transportation Technical Advisory Group, making Bill the counterpart to the other regional staff like Lisa Janairo and Chris Wells. Prior to that career move, Bill was the WIPP Coordinator for the State of New Mexico. His experience working for a state and a regional organization helped him to achieve great success in his role as Institutional Affairs Manager. Bill was promoted to the position of Director of the CBFO Office of Business Operations. Despite the increased demands of the job, though, he stayed in close touch with his friends and continued to do so after his retirement from DOE. A proud Navy man who served in Vietnam, Bill is survived by his loving wife Marge and two daughters. Rest in peace, good friend.
You will be missed.
Congrats to Sarah Wochos and Her Growing Family!
 We wanted to end this newsletter on a happy note, so it is with great delight that we introduce Benjamin James Matchett, seen in the photo below in the arms of his loving mother Sarah Wochos. Many readers will remember Sarah as the highly skilled, hard-working policy analyst that helped to staff CSG Midwest's Transportation Project from 2004-2008. One of Sarah's most notable accomplishments during her time at CSG was managing the Midwest's ambitious route identification project, wrapping up in 2005 with a
very thorough final report. Sarah has been busy this past decade growing her career and, more recently, her family! Sarah and her husband Barry welcomed Ben into the world on February 22. We all send Sarah, Barry, and Ben our best wishes for a happy, healthy, and exciting adventure ahead.
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Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on
May 2, 2019
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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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