August 2019 | The Council of State Governments | Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee

Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Newsletter
In This Issue
Committee
NTSF
Federal and State Nuclear Waste Legislation
Nuclear News
Important Dates
August 1: 
NTSF Rail/Routing AHWG Web Meeting - 11 AM*

August 1: 
Transportation Tabletop Workshop Working Group Conference Call - 12:30 PM*

August 4-9: 

August 15:
Transportation Core Group Pre-Meeting SRG Conference Call - 11 AM*

August 19-22: 

August 21-22: 
Transportation Core Group Meeting - Washington, D.C.

September 9-13: 

October 14:
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Quarterly Conference Call - 2 PM*

October 22-24: 
WIEB High-Level Radioactive Waste Committee and WGA WIPP Technical Advisory Group Meeting - Las Vegas, NV

October 29-30:
Northeast High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Task Force Meeting - Roswell, NM

November 13-14:
Fall 2019 MRMTC Meeting - Indianapolis, IN

December 11-12: 
SSEB Transportation Committees Meeting - Location TBD

January 13, 2020:
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Quarterly Conference Call - 2 PM*

April 13, 2020:
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Quarterly Conference Call - 2 PM*

May 18-21, 2020:
NTSF 2020 Meeting - Scottsdale, AZ

July 13, 2020: 
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Quarterly Conference Call - 2 PM*

*All times are CDT
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COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS Committee
Swapan Saha, Governor's Appointee from Kansas
There have been a few changes to the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee's (MRMTC) roster since the last newsletter came out. First, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has named Dr. Swapan Saha to serve as the state's representative on the MRMTC. Dr. Saha is the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Grant Manager for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. He has attended several MRMTC meetings in the past and will be taking over Kansas' designated appointee position from Jonathan York.  Second, Co-Chair Greg Gothard of Michigan appointed Waylon Sanford as his official alternate. Waylon is a Planning Analyst with the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division (EMHSD) and is replacing Lt. Susan Fries of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division (CVED), who has retired. Waylon's appointment means Michigan's emergency management and radiological control agencies will be working together on the MRMTC. Finally, Immediate Past Chair Kevin Leuer will be unavailable on extended leave pending layoff due to a reorganization of Minnesota's Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) Agency. 

In other committee news, the location and dates of the MRMTC Fall Meeting have been finalized. On November 13 and 14, the committee will meet at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis - Downtown - Union Station. As is customary, the Fall Meeting will have a committee business session with reports from each of the states and work groups, as well as presentations from DOE and other. New this year, the Fall Meeting will also have a Transportation Tabletop Workshop. This workshop will simulate a shipment of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) through the Midwestern states and will be inspired in part by the Nuclear Energy Institute's (NEI) Transportation Tabletop Exercise that took place in May. Co-Chair Kaci Studer of Indiana, Kelly Horn of Illinois, and Steve Bertonaschi of Ohio will have a conference call later today to begin the planning of the workshop. Finally, watch for a Fall Meeting agenda to be released late this month. 

Kelly Horn updates members of the MLC Executive Committee on the status of the MRMTC
Committee members have attended, and will continue to attend, meetings in relation to their roles on the MRMTC. On July 21, at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC) in Chicago, Kelly Horn gave a report on the status of the MRMTC to the MLC Executive Committee, made up of state and provincial legislators from 11 Midwestern states and four Canadian provinces. Kelly gave this report as the Committee Liaison to the MLC, a new committee position this year. His report covered a wide range of topics, from the committee's financial standing to the resumed shipments from Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. Kelly also answered legislators' questions regarding the status of the Yucca Mountain repository and the private SNF shipment model. 

Later this month, in their roles as co-chairs, Kaci Studer and Greg Gothard will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy for the Transportation Core Group Meeting. This meeting is a key chance for DOE to explain its radioactive waste transportation activities to state and tribal stakeholders and to maintain the important partnership between federal and state and tribal entities. Watch for a recap of the Transportation Core Group Meeting in the September edition of this newsletter. 
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STAKEHOLDERS FORUM NTSF

After a long break, the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) held a brand new informational webinar on July 30. This webinar, entitled "Progress Update on DOE's Development and Testing of the Atlas Railcar," was presented by the NTSF Planning Committee and featured Dr. Patrick Schwab from DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy and Mr. Bill Reich from Oak Ridge National Laboratory as speakers. Dr. Schwab covered the mobilization, designing, and testing of the Atlas railcar, which began in 2015. DOE is currently in the single-car testing phase and expects the project to be completed by mid-2022. The Atlas railcar is being developed to meet the Association of American Railroads (AAR) S-2043 Standard. This standard contains many performance requirements that would help ensure the safety and viability of shipping any kind of SNF transportation cask. Mr. Reich covered the safety and security standards and requirements of the Atlas railcar development. Both the webinar recording and a PDF of the slides can be found on the NTSF wiki site

In other rail-related NTSF news, the NTSF Rail/Routing Ad Hoc Working Group (AHWG) will have its first web-meeting since the NTSF Annual Meeting later today. This web-meeting will have Mel Massaro and Jeff Moore from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) provide a thorough overview of the FRA's revised Safety Compliance Oversight Plan (SCOP). 

Finally, the NTSF Planning Committee will have a debrief conference call tomorrow to discuss the lessons learned from the 2019 NTSF Annual Meeting in Arlington, Virginia. Additionally, over the next few weeks, the Planning Committee will be considering the status of the Communications AHWG to determine if its charge needs to be changed or if the group should sunset for the time being. 
FOCUS THIS MONTHthird
Federal and State Nuclear Waste Legislation
Last month's "Focus this Month" centered around the concerns that states and tribes expressed at June's NTSF Annual Meeting about a lack of training and preparation funding should SNF shipments conducted by private companies go ahead. With so much federal legislation under consideration that could greatly alter SNF transportation and storage, these concerns may be abated before the first shipments occur. For example, Section 309 of S. 1234, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2019, would provide transportation assistance and funding to states and Tribes for public education, training, equipment, and transportation safety programs.    S. 1234 would establish the Nuclear Waste Administration (NWA) that would take over certain responsibilities from DOE, including the siting, construction, and operation of a repository and possible independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs). The bill prescribes guidelines for how the proposed NWA should go about these tasks. On June 27, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources held a hearing on the bill. 

Other bills, such as H.R. 2995 and H.R. 3136, are also attempts to kick-start the transportation of SNF and high-level radioactive waste away from civilian nuclear power reactors to a permanent repository or temporary ISFSIs. U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois has also introduced legislation related to nuclear waste left at civilian nuclear power reactors. Unlike the previously mentioned bills,  S. 1985 - the Sensible, Timely Relief for America's Nuclear Districts' Economic Development (STRANDED) Act of 2019 - does not seek to force DOE to live up to its commitment to dispose of the nation's nuclear waste. Instead, the bill seeks to establish the Stranded Nuclear Waste Task Force and economic impact grants to provide financial assistance to local governments affected by extended storage of spent nuclear fuel after plants have shut down. 

On the other side of the debate, a group from Nevada's congressional delegation have introduced bills that seek to slow down the development of a permanent national repository. On the same day, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen and U.S. Rep. Susie Lee introduced S. 721 and H.R. 1619, both titled the Jobs, Not Waste Act of 2019. Both bills would prohibit the development of a nuclear waste repository until the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) submits a cost-benefit analysis of the alternate uses of the Yucca Mountain site. Additionally, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto has introduced S. 649, the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act. S. 649 would prohibit the use of the Nuclear Waste Fund for expenses related to a national repository unless DOE reaches a consent agreement with the state in which the repository is located and with affected local governments and Native American Tribes. 

Perry Nuclear Power Plant will remain operational thanks to Ohio House Bill 6 (photo courtesy of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
Meanwhile, most state legislatures in the Midwest have adjourned so there are few nuclear waste legislation developments. That is, with the exception of Ohio. House Bill 6 passed the legislature on July 23 and was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine on the same day. Effective October 22, the bill authorized a $150 million per year payment to FirstEnergy Solutions to keep its Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear power plants running. The annual payment will be funded by a fee imposed on Ohio's residential electric bills. Details of the controversial bill were covered in May's MRMTC Newsletter

Further coverage of the final vote and push to get the bill approved can be found in The Columbus Dispatch. (The conference in Chicago mentioned in the fourth paragraph is the MLC Annual Meeting discussed in the Committee Happenings section.)
NUCLEAR NEWS NuclearNews

New Leadership at DOE Office of Nuclear Energy
On July 11, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry swore in Dr. Rita Baranwal as the new Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy. She was first confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 20. Dr. Baranwal joins DOE leadership after a long career with both the nuclear industry and the federal government. She began with the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, developing nuclear fuel materials for the U.S. Navy before moving to Westinghouse to work on a variety of projects. Dr. Baranwal joined the government in 2016 as the Director of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative at Idaho National Laboratory. She has a materials science and engineering bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a master's degree and Ph.D. in the same field from the University of Michigan.

More information can be found in  DOE's press release

Western States Raise Protests Over Radioactive Material Shipments and Storage
Since the revelation in early 2019 that DOE had secretly shipped plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) from South Carolina's Savannah River Site, relations between the department and western states have not improved, and more than likely worsened. In a July 3 meeting between Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and DOE Deputy Secretary Daniel Brouillette, DOE revealed that 9 shipments containing 32 containers from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to the NNSS between 2013 and 2018 may have contained mislabeled material. "Reactive" materials may have been included in the shipments that were supposed to only involve low-level radioactive waste. In response, Gov. Sisolak and Nevada's U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen sent letters to DOE demanding answers for the oversight. 

This revelation comes only a month after Gov. Sisolak and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed their opposition to a permanent HLRW repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and a temporary ISFSI in their respective states. Now, environmental activists in Utah are asking Gov. Gary Herbert to join Nevada's and New Mexico's protests. The activists say citizens of Utah living near freeways and railroads were endangered by the mislabeled shipments to Nevada. Their letter to Gov. Herbert also claims that "Utah bears the greatest risk of an accident or event occurring en route of any state in the country." The letter goes on to lament federal efforts to reopen Yucca Mountain as most shipments to the Nevada site would pass through Utah. Gov. Herbert's office has not yet reviewed the letter. 

Huffpost has further coverage of Gov. Sisolak's meeting with DOE and subsequent events. 

More information from Utah can be found in The Salt Lake Tribune

ICYMI: Technological Developments in the Nuclear World
The top of First Light Fusion's Machine 3 (photo by Ben Quinton for The New York Times)
As global concerns about climate change rise, it would seem obvious to expand the production of carbon-free energy created by nuclear power plants. However, the prohibitive cost of building and maintaining traditional nuclear fission reactors makes it difficult to compete against cheaper energy alternatives. In response, scientists and entrepreneurs are experimenting with a new kind of nuclear fusion reactor. First Light Fusion, founded by Nick Hawker, is a British company that has raised about $30 million from investors, including Oxford University, interested by their innovative approach. Instead of traditional fusion experiments which require heating plasma to more than 100 million degrees Celsius, First Light Fusion fires a dime-sized disc at a bead of hydrogen isotopes at 50,000 miles per hour from a few inches away. The idea is to compress the pellet so forcefully that the hydrogen isotopes fuse to create helium, and to repeat this process on a larger scale to eventually power electric plants. Mr Hawker's company is not the only one pursuing this. The Fusion Industry Association has 17 members and estimates the total financing to be $1 to $1.5 billion. 

Read more about entrepreneurial fusion reactors in The New York Times

While technological innovations are helping develop new forms of nuclear energy, it is also helping with the back end of the current nuclear fuel cycle. As more and more nuclear power plants shut down for good, as well as isolated incidents like Fukushima Daiichi, the need for robots to help clean up nuclear waste has become clear. The protective suits humans must wear when cleaning up nuclear waste are cumbersome and make the work time consuming. Additionally, some waste is too dangerous for humans to approach, period. The robots that have been used so far at Fukushima often get stuck, break down, or are difficult to operate. That's why the United Kingdom's National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (NCNR) is working to develop a new generation of robots with artificial intelligence (AI). This AI will help the robots navigate the disorganized environment of shutdown nuclear sites. Initial tests at the Springfields nuclear fuel production site in Northwest England had a robot successfully use a laser to cut up contaminated steel. 

Read more about NCNR's work in The Economist
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September 5, 2019
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This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Numbers DE-NE0008604, DE-EM0004869, and DE-EM0005168.  

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