Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) Newsletter

September 2021 | The Council of State Governments (CSG) | Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee

Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Newsletter

Committee Happenings

Rejoice, for the first time since November 2019, the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) is planning to meet in person! The MRMTC Fall 2021 Meeting will be held on December 1 and 2 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, IL. While a preliminary agenda is still in the works, attendees can expect a half-day transportation workshop on the afternoon of December 1, an optional group dinner on the night of December 1, and a full-day meeting of committee business and guest presentations on December 2. If you have a topic or presentation suggestion for the meeting, please email Mitch Arvidson.

For those who would like to get an early start on planning, you can register for the meeting at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MRMTCFall21. At this time, you can also reserve your room at the Hyatt here. More information about the hotel and travel can be found here. As always, MRMTC Members and regional tribal representatives can have their travel, lodging, and meal expenses reimbursed.

If that isn't enough travel for you, committee members are welcome to apply for and attend an upcoming radiation specialist course. On October 25 - 29, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program (TEPP) and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) will cohost a course in Moon Township, PA, near Pittsburgh. This five-day course is designed to meet the training competencies outlined in the 2018 version of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 472, Chapter 18: Competencies for Hazardous Materials Technicians with a Radioactive Material Specialty. Technicians with a radioactive material (Class 7) specialty are responders who provide support to the hazardous materials technician on the use of radiation detection instruments, and they are expected to have the ability to manage the control of radiation exposure and conduct hazards assessment at an incident involving radioactive materials. If chosen for the course, CSG Midwest can provide committee members with reimbursements for travel-related expenses.

In other committee news, the Midwestern members (Kelly Horn and Brian Vercruysse of Illinois, Jamie Reyes of Nebraska, and Tom Forbes of Ohio) of the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum Spent Nuclear Fuel Rail/Routing Ad Hoc Working Group (NTSF SNF R/R AHWG) met virtually on Wednesday, August 4 to discuss the Revised Draft Railcar Safety Inspection Protocol. The goal of this document is to promote inspection reciprocity among States and Tribes along transportation routes for future DOE rail shipments of SNF and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). After the first draft was released in 2020, the Midwest provided comments to the author. The Midwest members are now reviewing the revised draft to see if the 2020 comments were addressed and if there are any other things that should be addressed. Soon, they will present the revised draft and their findings to the committee as a whole either via webinar or during the Fall 2021 Meeting. At that point, all committee members will be able to provide comments which will be submitted to DOE in early 2022.

National Transportation Stakeholders Forum

Speaking of the NTSF SNF R/R AHWG, the Midwest added a new member to the group last month. Thank you to Waylon Sanford (Michigan) for volunteering to be part of this important group! As a reminder, this group facilitates a dialogue between federal staff from DOE, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Tribes and States, and other transportation stakeholders, to develop a common understanding of how future rail shipments of SNF will operate, and to identify outstanding issues or questions to resolve in advance of these shipments.

In other NTSF news, the Planning Committee met on August 18. The group approved the new NTSF Management Plan and heard an update on the planning of the 2022 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. The long-awaited new NTSF website, replacing the NTSF wiki site, will have to wait a little bit longer. However, the NTSF is very excited to share the new site with its members when it is ready.

Finally, MRMTC staff met with the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) to discuss the previous financial quarter and the ending of the current five-year cooperative agreement at the end of this month. Staff expects a new five-year agreement to begin with DOE-NE as soon as the 2016-21 expires. Committee members can hear more details about this during the MRMTC Fall 2021 Meeting.

Focus This Month

New NWTRB Report on High Burnup Fuel (HBF)

Last month, the United States Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) released a new report. Titled Evaluation of the [DOE's] Research Program to Examine the Performance of Commercial High Burnup Spent Nuclear Fuel During Extended Storage and Transportation, the report evaluates several years of DOE research into the storage and transportation of HBF and makes recommendations to the U.S. Congress and the Secretary of Energy on further actions to take. By way of reminder, Congress established the NWTRB in 1987 and tasked it to "evaluate the technical and scientific validity of activities undertaken by the Secretary [of Energy]… including... activities relating to the packaging or transportation of HLW or SNF." The board is made up of academics at the top of their respective fields.

Fuel burnup is a measure of the thermal energy generated in a nuclear reactor. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) defines HBF as nuclear fuel utilized beyond 45 gigawatt-days per metric ton of uranium (BWd/MTU). Most SNF currently stored in the nation is low burnup fuel but most SNF produced now and in the future will be HBF, thereby necessitating the study of its unique characteristics (i.e. chemical, physical, and radiological behavior in storage and transportation).

According to DOE, there are five main areas that need further research; SNF drying and the water that may remain inside a cask or canister, hydrogen effects in HBF cladding (such as possible embrittlement and breach), HBF performance under normal conditions of dry storage, HBF performance under normal conditions of transport, and fuel performance modeling. The NWTRB agrees with these priority research areas but notes that DOE testing has mostly been of pressurized water reactor (PWR) HBF with limited study of boiling water reactor (BWR) HBF and no testing of HBF that incorporated integral burnable absorber rods like those containing boron.

While it is impossible to summarize the 366-page report in this newsletter, we will attempt to capture some of the recommendations below.

General Recommendations
Following the completion of high burnup dry storage research project (HDRP) sister rod examinations and drop testing of surrogate SNF assemblies, DOE should prepare a document that compiles the results of DOE research on extended storage and transportation of HBF, with the purpose of providing the technical bases for conclusions reached regarding HBF performance during extended storage and transportation.
Spent Nuclear Fuel Drying
DOE should evaluate the extent to which chemisorbed water remains after the drying process is completed and whether this water could affect the ability of SNF cask or canister systems and their contents to continue to meet storage and transportation requirements.
Hydrogen Effects in High Burnup Fuel Cladding
As the need for new testing of HBF cladding is identified, DOE's research efforts should make use of irradiated samples rather than unirradiated samples to avoid the large uncertainties and difficulties in interpreting test results that arise from using unirradiated samples.
HBF Performance under Normal Conditions of Dry Storage
DOE should continue its activities to ensure its thermal models are rigorously validated, including industry-standard uncertainty quantification, for use on SNF storage or transport systems.
HBF Performance under Normal Conditions of Transport
DOE should quantify the uncertainties introduced by the use of unirradiated assembly components and surrogate components, such as concrete mock-SNF assemblies, in experiments being used to benchmark the DOE structural model.
Fuel Performance Modeling
DOE should continue to develop fuel performance models (e.g., BISON) that are validated utilizing experimental data.

Nuclear News

As One Midwest State Struggles to Keep Nukes Open, Another Weighs Who Gets to Decommission Theirs

Despite the possibility of federal and state legislative assistance and rising power prices, Exelon says it is probably too little too late to save two Illinois nuclear power plants slated for decommissioning. Byron Nuclear Plant is slated to retire in September and take 2.3 GW of clean energy with it. Dresden Nuclear Plant will take 1.8 GW when/if it retires in November.

In Washington, the House and Senate are debating a $15/MWh production tax credit for nuclear power plants and the Senate is considering a $6 billion DOE-run program to help nuclear power plants facing economic shutdown. In Springfield, the Illinois General Assembly spent several months trying to craft a clean energy bill that included funds to keep the nuclear power plants open. Impassable differences between labor and environmental activists have put that measure on hold indefinitely. Some Illinois legislators still believe a separate bill focusing solely on keeping the plants open could pass in the Fall. However, Exelon says these legislative proposals would come too late. "There is no regulatory path back. You get to a point that you are running within months or so [of a shutdown]... Running [an extra] year is physically impossible," said Exelon CEO Chris Crane.

Utility Dive has more coverage of Exelon's probable decommissionings.

Late breaking news: The Illinois Senate passed SB 18 on September 1. This legislation includes a subsidy to keep the Byron and Dresden nuclear plants running. The bill now goes to the Illinois House of Representatives where it is sure to be changed significantly before being sent back to the Senate. Capitol Fax has more details on the legislation.

Meanwhile, just up north, Wisconsin faces an interesting question in who will have the right to decommission the Kewaunee Power Station, which shut down in 2013. The current owner of the former plant, Dominion Energy is seeking to receive regulatory approval from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) to sell the plant to EnergySolutions, which specializes in nuclear waste disposal and decommissioning, for an undisclosed amount. EnergySolutions estimates it will cost nearly $724 million to decommission Kewaunee. However, NorthStar, a competitor in the industry says it could decommission Kewaunee for just $500 million.

When buying the plant in 2005, Dominion agreed to give former owners Alliant Energy and Wisconsin Public Service Corp. rights of first refusal, meaning they can match any offer EnergySolutions has made. NorthStar has offered to buy either utility's right for $25 million. NorthStar also claims that it is in the public's interest for PSC to block the sale to EnergySolutions, saying that the company has no incentive to save any money left in the decommissioning trust which will be returned to ratepayers. EnergySolutions on the other hand, disputes that NorthStar has any regard for the public interest but are instead a rival company upset they did not get the contract. The PSC of Wisconsin has yet to make a statement on the case.

The La Crosse Tribune has more.

The Tussle Over Interim Storage

As the national inventory of SNF continues to build up at de facto storage sites across the country, federal lawmakers led by Reps. Mike Levin (California) and Rodney Davis (Illinois) have formed a 10-member, bipartisan SNF Solutions Caucus. The group says they will not take official policy positions but hope to serve as an information-sharing group that seeks to move the federal conversation forward after the shuttering of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada.

Meanwhile, opposition to two proposed consolidated interim storage facilities (CISF) are growing in New Mexico and Texas, the two states that would host them. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and congressional delegations from both states have opposed the facilities, citing their worry that the sites would become de facto permanent disposal facilities. After failing to pass a bill banning the storage of HLW and SNF during its Spring Session, the Texas Legislature is once again considering a bill banning HLW and SNF storage during a special session. HB 7 reintroduced the proposal but removed language that would have lowered fees for low-level radioactive waste (LLW) being stored at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in Andrews County, TX. The bill has passed the Texas House of Representatives and awaits debate in the Texas Senate.

For more information, check out Nuclear Newswire and The Texas Tribune.

IAEA Explores Nuclear Knowledge Management

Those who have been around the nuclear waste storage and transportation area for a while know that one major obstacle of such a long running issue is the retention of knowledge. This is especially the case as one generation moves into retirement age and takes their knowledge and expertise with them. This has been a concern for the MRMTC and former Project Director Lisa Janairo. For this reason, the Transportation Institutional Issues Involving the U.S. DOE's Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program: The Post Yucca Mountain Years was written, in the hope that it would make it "easier for new personnel to learn about what came before."

This is not just a concern of the MRMTC or in the U.S. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also considered this development and recently released a report on the subject. "Managing Nuclear Safety Knowledge: National Approaches and Experience" is a survey of how member states have managed nuclear knowledge. For example, "In South Africa, the National Centre of Excellence on Nuclear Safety and Security was launched in September 2016 to pool national resources and expertise in these areas (including nuclear safety knowledge)." Check out the report for information on many other countries!

The Kewaunee Power Station, situated along Lake Michigan just south of Kewaunee, WI.

Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on

October 7, 2021.

Missed a newsletter? Past issues are archived on the committee's webpage.

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.