Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) Newsletter

Happy October Midwesterners! Here's to cooler weather, playoff baseball, and all the tricks and treats you desire. Apologies for the delayed and shorter newsletter this month, we should get back to normal in November.

First and foremost, the biennial update of the Planning Guide for Shipments of Radioactive Material through the Midwestern States has been completed! In addition to sporting a new look, several changes have been made to the 2021 edition. Links have been added to the text whenever a state or federal regulation or law is referenced, Appendix E. Tribal Information has been expanded, and "states and Tribes" has been changed to "stakeholders" to reflect Tribes' status as equal and distinct governments. There are other changes throughout the Recommended Practices section so check it out for yourselves!

In other committee news, preparations for the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) Fall 2021 Meeting are well underway. The December 1 - 2 meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, IL, will be an amazing opportunity for us all to finally come together in-person to discuss and learn about the important work being done in the region and across the country. There are some exciting presentations already confirmed for the meeting, including an update on the Vermont Yankee shipping campaign, a final report on the 2020 Bedford Park railcar fire from the Federal Railroad Administration, and a session on an autonomous airborne radiation monitoring system. Keep an eye out for a preliminary agenda to be released soon. If you are planning on attending, please complete the registration survey and book your room at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

Finally, the final meeting of the MRMTC Regional Tribal Engagement (RTE) Work Group has been rescheduled to October 25. Committee members can hear a full report of the work group's activities at the MRMTC Fall 2021 Meeting.

National Transportation Stakeholders Forum

The National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) Planning Committee (PC) most recently met on September 29. The NTSF PC discussed the 2022 Annual Meeting of the NTSF, which will take place June 6 - 9, 2022, in Philadelphia, PA. The bulk of the programming will take place on June 8 and 9 but MRMTC Committee Members should plan on arriving the morning of June 7 at the latest for the MRMTC Spring 2022 Meeting taking place in the afternoon of that day.

NTSF Members should have received a save-the-date announcement early in September. If you did not receive such an announcement, please let Mitch Arvidson know and he will add you to the NTSF Distribution List. Most of the agenda for the Annual Meeting still needs to be filled out but there is one item that is already confirmed. The group tour on June 9 will be visiting the brand new Holtec International building in Camden, NJ.

In other NTSF news, the NTSF Wiki Site will be discontinued in the coming weeks and replaced with a new NTSF website. The ad hoc working group (AHWG) developing the website hope to be able to demonstrate the site to the NTSF PC during the next call on November 3 and launch to the public shortly thereafter.

Focus This Month

GAO Publishes Report That MRMTC Was Interviewed For

Way back in March, the MRMTC Co-Chairs and a couple of past Co-Chairs participated in an informational interview with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO is a legislative branch government agency that provides Congress, the heads of executive agencies, and the public with timely, fact-based, non-partisan information that can be used to improve government and save taxpayers billions of dollars.

The MRMTC Members were interviewed about the federal liability for commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF). GAO analysts were seeking information from stakeholders and experts on the options the federal government could pursue to dispose of commercial SNF and the options for the federal government to manage commercial SNF in the absence of an active disposal program. With their combined decades of experience in their own states, on the MRMTC, and with the NTSF, these committee members were able to provide a wealth of information.

Flashforward seven months and the GAO has released the final report. "Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel: Congressional Action Needed to Break Impasse and Develop a Permanent Disposal Solution" is a 62 page report directed at Congress with recommendations on how to overcome the impasse that has left 86,000 metric tons, growing by 2,000 metric tons each year, of SNF stranded in 33 states. The report provides an in-depth background report on the history of commercial SNF management, describes the actions recommended by experts and stakeholders, and even includes comments from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

While the report is highly informative and should be read in its entirety, this newsletter will highlight the four recommendations for brevity.

Congress should amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) to authorize a new consent-based siting process,
Congress should restructure the Nuclear Waste Fund,
Congress should direct DOE to develop and implement an integrated waste management strategy, and
DOE should finalize its consent-based siting process.

World Nuclear News has more coverage of the report.

Nuclear News

Instead of listing three news stories and providing a brief summary of each, this months newsletter will simply provide the titles and links of articles that should be of interest to MRMTC Members and other interested parties. We will return to the normal newsletter format in November.

Finally, Nigel Mote, Executive Director of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) for the past 12 years, retired from Federal service on September 25. Daniel Ogg has been appointed Acting Executive Director until the position is permanently filled. Congratulations to Nigel on a great career!

Optimus H transport system. Photo by NAC International

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

November 4, 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.