Happy summer to all Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) members and friends! It's hard to believe that we are halfway through 2022. Normally we would use the "Committee Happenings" section to cover the most recent MRMTC Meeting, but you can find the MRMTC Spring 2022 Meeting summary in the "Focus This Month" section below. 

In other committee news, Paul Schmidt, Wisconsin's longtime gubernatorial appointee and alternate member is officially retiring from state service this month. Last month, we were lucky enough to have Paul join us for one last meeting in Philadelphia, PA. MRMTC Co-Chair Mike Snee (Ohio) was able to recognize and thank Paul for his many contributions to the committee and the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) during the NTSF State of the Forum Luncheon (pictured above). Paul has worked at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services since 1989 and is retiring as a Nuclear Safety Manager. He also served as an MRMTC Co-Chair in 2010-11. Thank you Paul and happy retirement! 

You may recall from a previous newsletter that we recently created the MRMTC Digital Library, a repository of radioactive materials transportation videos and other materials dating back to 1990 that have been digitized for easy access. Well, thanks to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP), we have been able to add several new videos from their more recent transportation exercises. These exercises occurred in Colorado in 2009, Washington in 2011, Indiana in 2013, and New York in 2017. 

Finally, there are several dates that committee members and other interested parties should take note of. First, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's (DOE-NE) Transportation Core Group Meeting will be hosted by the Midwest on August 30 - 31 in Cincinnati, OH. Transportation Core Group meetings are for DOE-NE staff and state regional group (SRG) leadership to dig deeper into DOE-NE programs. Look for a summary of the meeting in September's newsletter. Then, the NNPP will be hosting its next transportation exercise (like the ones mentioned in the paragraph above) in Moberly, MO, on September 14. Finally, please keep October 12 - 13 open in your calendars. The MRMTC Fall 2022 Meeting will tentatively be held on those days in either Rapid City or Sioux Falls, SD. More information to come. 

Congratulations to Paul Schmidt on his retirement! 

After a three year hiatus, the NTSF finally met for its Annual Meeting last month. Held at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown Hotel on June 6 - 9, the very successful meeting offered networking and learning opportunities for seasoned veterans and newcomers alike. The meeting opened for some on Monday, June 6, with an excellent Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (TRMTC) Meeting and a TRANSCOM users group meeting and training.

Tuesday, June 7, was focused on the NTSF Ad Hoc Working Groups (AHWG) and the SRGs. Preexisting NTSF AHWGs like the Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Rail/Routing AHWG and the Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program (TEPP) AHWG met to continue their work while the two new groups met for the first time, the Spent Fuel Transportation Materials AHWG and the Section 180(c) AHWG. Many thanks to the MRMTC members who have volunteered to be on these AHWGs! 

Wednesday, June 8, is when the full conference really took off. A Newcomers Orientation Breakfast was held and the Opening Plenary featured Indigenous Spirit Dancers and a Keynote Presentation from Ben Harp, Senior Advisor for the DOE Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM). The rest of the day featured presentations on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), DOE-NE's consent-based siting initiative and breakout sessions on a variety of topics, including an emerging technologies session in which MRMTC Immediate Past Chair Greg Gothard (Michigan) discussed his states unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program. 

The final day of the annual meeting, Thursday, June 9, kicked off with a Plenary Session on sustaining partnerships for DOE transport of SNF. One of the highlights of the meeting came in the afternoon with a tour of Holtec International's headquarters and factory. Tour goers were able to see where Holtec cuts, rolls, welds, and manufactures its SNF storage and transportation casks. In the next few weeks, all presentations from the 2022 Annual Meeting of the NTSF will be posted to the ntsf.info website. 

If you did not attend the meeting or missed the last day, we are happy to announce that the Midwest will be hosting the 2023 Annual Meeting of the NTSF in St. Louis, MO! Clear your calendars for the week of May 22, 2023, and plan to join us at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch for another edition of the country's best meeting for radioactive materials transportation stakeholders. 

Finally, DOE-EM recently released DOE Order 460.2B, Departmental Materials Transportation Management. This order establishes the requirements and responsibilities for management of DOE, including National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), materials transportation and to ensure the safe, secure, and efficient transportation of materials both hazardous and nonhazardous, for offsite shipments. Keep an eye out for announcement of an NTSF webinar that will cover the changes contained in this new order. 

2022 Annual Meeting of the NTSF attendees tour the Holtec International factory and headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. 

MRMTC Spring 2022 Meeting

Thank you to everyone who helped make the MRMTC Spring 2022 Meeting another successful committee meeting! Thank you to the guest presenters, the committee members who attended in person, and the committee members who participated via Zoom. MRMTC Co-Chairs Mike Snee and Rodney Pitchford (Illinois) kicked off the committee business session with the Co-Chairs' Report which acknowledged the MRMTC's regional tribal engagement work, the many meetings that the Midwest is hosting or helping host, and the region's strong representation on the NTSF. Mitch Arvidson (CSG Midwest) then gave the Project Update which included the financial status of the various DOE cooperative agreements. If you are a committee member and would like to receive a copy of the Project update, please contact Mitch. The rest of the committee business session consisted of reports on MRMTC work group reports, NTSF AHWG reports, and reports on other meetings attended. 

Before breaking for a bit, the committee then heard quick updates from James Mason (DOE Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO)) about WIPP and from Mark Salamon and Nicholas Plate about the upcoming NNPP exercise in Missouri. 

After the break, committee members gave updates from their own states in the Regional Roundtable. Then, Mark Linsley (Technical Resources Group (TRG)) gave an update on TEPP Activities in the Midwest. He described TEPP's mission to ensure that federal, state, tribal, and local responders have access to the plans, training, and technical assistance necessary to safely, efficiently, and effectively respond to transportation accidents involving DOE-owned radioactive materials.

In FY2022, the two TEPP classes were held in the Midwest. In Illinois, a Rad Specialist training was held for 29 students. In Nebraska, a Compressed Modular Emergency Response Radiological Transportation Training (CMERRTT) was held for 68 students. The next TEPP activities in the Midwest will be a CMERRTT in Youngstown, OH, on September 17; a CMERRTT in Cleveland, OH, on October 10 - 12; and a Full MERRTT in Ankeny, IA, on October 26 - 27. Mark also covered some recent improvements to TEPP including online MERRTT refresher trainings, new armed law enforcement officer decontamination dressdown model procedure, creating a medical examiner course based on the TEPP model procedure, and developing several new job aid "flatsheets." 

Finally, Dr. J.D. Chiou (Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth) gave an update on DOE-EM's Portsmouth site in southern Ohio. Portsmouth began as a 3,700-acre uranium enrichment operation in 1954. DOE-EM's cleanup effort there began in 1989 with full-scale decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) beginning in 2010. Dr. Chiou outlined Portsmouth's focuses for the next ten years. This includes the complete D&D of the X-326, X-333, and X-330 Process Buildings, the complete destruction of On Site Waste Disposal Facility (OSWDF) cells, the excavation of landfills and plumes to provide contiguous land for future economic development, and the transfer of land to the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI) for reuse. His presentation also covered the site's air monitoring, the depleted uranium hexaflouride DUF6 conversion project, and the future of the Portsmouth site. 

If you would like to read some more about the Portsmouth site, here are some recent DOE-EM publications:

• Crews Demolish Massive Building at Portsmouth, Achieving EM 2022 Priority
• DOE Awards Noncompetitive Financial Assistance Agreement to the Scioto Valley - Piketon Area Council of Governments

Check out the event webpage for the final agenda, final attendance, and action items from the MRMTC Spring 2022 Meeting. Keep an eye out for the meeting summary to come soon. 

MRMTC Member Waylon Sanford (Michigan) poses next to a vertical cask transporter being manufactured at Holtec International

Because of busy preparations for the 76th Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC), this month's nuclear news will not summarize news stories, but just provide links for those interested in reading more. 

Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy

• U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB): U.S. NWTRB letter to Dr. Kathryn Huff following the Board's Winter 2022 Meeting
• World Nuclear News: Q&A: The priorities of the USA's new assistant secretary for nuclear energy

A Busy Month in Michigan 

• National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL): Nuclear Updates from Michigan
• Holtec International: Palisades and Big Rock Point are the Latest Nuclear Plants to Join Holtec's Decommissioning Fleet
• MLive: Palisades Nuclear Power Plant on Lake Michigan shoreline has been sold
• Carlsbad Current Argus: Will southeast New Mexico store Michigan's nuclear waste? A company plans to do so

Kewaunee Sale to EnergySolutions Finalized

• RadWaste Monitor: NorthStar adventurism at Kewaunee has not shaken EnergySolutions' decom plans COO says
• RadWaste Monitor: Kewaunee sale to EnergySolutions final by end of June, company says

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Drops Some More Knowledge

• "Advisory Material for the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material" 
• "Format and Content of the Package Design Safety Report for the Transport of Radioactive Material" 
• "Managing Siting Activities for Nuclear Power Plants" 
• "Decommissioning at a Multifacility Site" 

Thank you to Steve Maheras for sharing these publications! 

Despite NorthStar's best efforts, EnergySolutions will be the company decommissioning Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant in Wisconsin