It's the busiest time of the year for the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC)! Next week, the committee will be coming together for its Fall 2022 Meeting in Rapid City, SD. The final agenda has come together very well and we are looking forward to guest presentations on conceptual interim storage facility designs, the Edgemont, SD, disposal site, Southwest Research Institute's (SwRI) Community Preparedness and Planning Pilot Framework, Ukraine nuclear sites, non-compliant railcar transportation of Class 7 low-level radioactive waste (LLW), and others.

Additionally, the MRMTC will be conducting its traditional committee business, such as electing a new MRMTC Co-Chair! If you are interested in being considered for the co-chair position, or have a suggestion of a fellow committee member, please reach out to MRMTC staffer Mitch Arvidson. Finally, the committee encourages attendees to come early or stay late to enjoy Rapid City and its surrounding area, such as the Black Hills or Badlands National Park. 

In other committee news, Mitch Arvidson had the opportunity to visit Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) just outside of Chicago, IL, on September 21. He met with Dr. Yung Liu and his team with the Packaging Certification and Life Cycle Management (PCLCM) Group. Dr. Lui and his team showed off the the ARG-US Command Center, the virtual reality (VR) incident response lab, and the device lab. In the ARG-US Command Center, Mitch was able to see a CommBox system (pictured above). Based on the ARG-US radio-frequency identification (RFID) system for monitoring drum-type packages in storage, CommBox expedites item-based monitoring and tracking of packages during transport. It consists of RFID tags, fixed readers, and a laptop control computer. Lastly, the group discussed ANL's possible support of and participation in the 2023 Annual Meeting of the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) in St. Louis, MO, on May 22 - 25, 2023. 

Then, on September 26, the MRMTC Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group held its third virtual meeting of the year. After a long break, this meeting served as a reset for the group as they shared updates on recent or upcoming activities of interest. For example, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety has hired a Tribal Liaison and the MRMTC is still hoping to help set up HAZMAT trainings for Tribes in Michigan sometime in 2023. 

Speaking of Michigan, MRMTC staff, State of Michigan employees, and representatives from the Pokagon Band of Pottawatomi Nation and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa joined the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) during its Palisades Nuclear Power Plant Infrastructure Site Visit this week. On Tuesday, the group met with Holtec staff and toured the transportation infrastructure and independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs) at Palisades. On Wednesday, the group explored various possible heavy-haul truck to rail transloading sites around southwest Michigan. Finally, on Thursday, the group met with local community stakeholders including the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission and the Palisades Community Advisory Panel (PCAP). 

MRMTC Immediate Past Co-Chair Greg Gothard (Michigan) examining spent nuclear fuel (SNF) storage casks at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Van Buren County, MI

While September was very busy for the MRMTC, the NTSF was also getting a lot of work done. Several ad hoc working groups (AHWG) were active, including the NTSF SNF Management - Communications and Outreach AHWG (formally known as the Spent Fuel Transportation Materials AHWG). With help from this group, DOE issued a report summarizing input on the comments received on the request for information (RFI) on "Using a Consent-Based Siting Process to Identify Federal Interim Storage Facilities." DOE also announced a funding opportunity for community engagement on consent-based siting. 

The NTSF SNF Rail/Routing AHWG met virtually on September 20. During that meeting the group discussed and updated a comparison matrix of Commercial Vehicle Safety Association (CVSA) Level VI out-of-service criteria for truck shipments and applicable federal regulations, American Association of Railroads (AAR) standards, and industry recommended practices out-of-service criteria for rail shipments. 

Next, the NTSF Section 180(c) AHWG met virtually on September 22. During that meeting, the group continued to discuss the lessons learned from the Section 180(c) Policy Implementation Exercise that took place from 2014 to 2016. 

Then, the NTSF Planning Committee met virtually on September 29. Since July, the 2023 Annual Meeting of the NTSF has been the focus of the Planning Committee's work. Recently, the MRMTC has sent a save the date to the NTSF community, adjusted the usual order of days for the meeting, and begun working on the agenda. 

Finally, the NTSF will host a "DOE Order 460.2B" webinar on Wednesday, October 19, at 10 AM Central Time. The DOE Office of Packaging and Transportation (OPT) will lead a presentation and discussion on DOE Order 460.2B, Departmental Materials Transportation Management. The revised Order was published in June 2022 and includes important clarifications on topics including advance shipment notifications, public engagement, emergency response, and shipment security. You can register for this webinar here. 

U.S. Navy Comes to Landlocked Missouri 

Nuclear energy powers 11 aircraft carriers and 67 submarines in the U.S. Navy's fleet. This power source allows these ships to travel with stealth, endurance and high speed. For example, the USS Missouri recently completed a seven-month deployment in which it traveled 40,000 nautical miles and was at sea for 90% of this deployment, all without the need to refuel. 

When these ships' reactors are refueled or defueled, the SNF needs to be transported to the Naval Reactors Facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for inspection. Since 1957, the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) has completed almost 1,000 shipments of SNF from various ports to INL. 

The SNF is transported in either the M-290 or the M-140 Naval Spent Fuel Shipping Containers. These containers are Type B Packages that meet or exceed requirements set by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). In addition to these robust containers, naval nuclear fuel is solid metal, non-flammable and designed to withstand intense battle shock.

While it is all well and good to say the SNF is rugged and the containers are robust, the NNPP strives to further gain public trust and confidence through its accident demonstration exercises. The NNPP's demonstrations bring the containers to communities along typical shipping routes and pose various scenarios in which there is an accident during a shipment. Then, the NNPP and other first responders simulate their ensuing actions to assess, respond to, and secure the accident scene. 

These recurring exercises have taken place in locations throughout the country since 1996, including Topeka, KS, and Fort Wayne, IN. Most recently, the NNPP held an accident demonstration exercise in Moberly, MO, just north of Colombia, on September 14. Several members of the MRMTC were on hand to watch. This includes Ryan Seabaugh with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources who coordinated with state agencies involved in the exercise, provided feedback on the scenario and exercise, and supported state participants as needed. 

In this demonstration's scenario, a shipment was traveling from Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia to INL and moving east to west through Moberly, MO. A utility boom truck was approaching an intersection, failed to stop in time and the overhead boom equipment hit the M-290 shipping container. The truck remained upright but began leading hydraulic fluid while several heat dissipation fins on the M-290 were bent and the back wheels of the railcar were derailed. 

Armed shipment couriers traveling in the rail escort vehicle behind the container and train crew traveling in the locomotive in front of the container took immediate action to ensure the boom truck driver's wellbeing and established a safety zone around the container. Then, the Moberly Police and Fire Departments arrived to assist with emergency response. State-level organizations began arriving, such as the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to monitor the radiation levels coming off the container. Finally, the Moberly Police Chief served as the main Public Information Officer, communicating with local news media with assistance from NNPP staff. 

There are several goals for these exercises. First, they provide an opportunity to conduct regional outreach with the host communities and states. Additionally, it allows civilian emergency services and interested political leaders the opportunity to familiarize themselves with naval shipments and interact with shipment couriers. Finally, these demonstrations also serve as training opportunities for personnel to practice emergency actions, communications, and public affairs. 

MRMTC members (left to right) Swapan Saha (Kansas), Rep. Pat Garofalo (Minnesota), and Ryan Seabaugh (Missouri) attend the September 14 NNPP Accident Demonstration Exercise in Moberly, MO

Midwest Nukes Poised to Become Hubs of Clean Hydrogen

In the last few years, there has been a lot of discussion about the "hydrogen economy." The idea is to use hydrogen to decarbonize economic sectors like steel and cement production and long-haul transportation. Hydrogen can also be used to store renewable energy and to increase flexibility in gas turbines. The difficulty lies in the high costs and electricity needed to complete the electrolysis process to extract hydrogen from water.

Two nuclear power plants hope to help ease this difficulty. Energy Harbor, the University of Toledo, industrial companies, and multiple DOE national labs are forming the Great Lakes Clean Hydrogen (GLCH) coalition to use energy from Ohio's Davis-Besse nuclear power plant to produce clean hydrogen. Using nuclear-powered high-temperature steam electrolysis is significantly more efficient and cleaner than natural gas-powered low-temperature electrolysis. A parallel project is also being undertaken by Bloom Energy and Xcel Energy. Their project will use Minnesota's Prairie Island nuclear power plant. 

Read more about the Ohio project in World Nuclear News and Power Engineering. Business Wire has details on the Minnesota project. 

Palisades Decommissioning: Will They, Won't They?

The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant shut down for good on May 20 and was sold to Holtec International on June 28 with the intention of decommissioning the plant by 2041. But is it really shut down for good? In the months since acquiring the plant, Holtec has applied for part of DOE's $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) Program, which was created to help preserve the existing U.S. nuclear reactor fleet. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has voiced her support for Holtec's application. Gov. Whitmer cites the possibility of securing 1,700 jobs in southwest Michigan and achieving the state's goal of decarbonizing the power grid by 2050 as reasons to support the application. There have also been discussions about the state providing additional funding for Palisades if the CNC application is approved. 

Restarting Palisades is not as simple as just securing federal and state funding. Holtec would also need to resecure an NRC operating license, find a licensed third-party operator, procure a power purchase agreement, restaff the plant, refuel, and complete deferred maintenance. Public support for restarting Palisades is a mixed bag. A recent public NRC meeting to gather input on decommissioning turned into a debate about whether or not to restart the plant. 

In other Michigan nuclear power news, the Michigan Senate is considering a bill that would fund a feasibility study on nuclear energy. Sponsors say the study will help policymakers make decisions about Michigan's nuclear future, including small modular reactors (SMRs). 

Check out Neutron Bytes for more details about the possibility of Palisades restarting. 

Looking Abroad

While these monthly newsletters are usually focused on regional and/or national news and issues, it is always helpful to take a look at what the rest of the world is doing in the areas of radioactive materials storage, disposal, and transportation. To that purpose, here are some international-perspective articles that may be of interest to you. 

• Nuclear Engineering International: "A global perspective on radioactive waste disposal"
• World Nuclear News: "One-year delay in Canadian repository site selection" 
• World Nuclear News: "Site proposed for Swiss repository"