The Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) has coordinated the relaunch of two Working Groups: The 2023 Planning Guide Review Work Group and the Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group. The Planning Guide Review Work Group held its first meeting on June 26, 2023 during which preliminary discussions were had regarding the best practices for the review and revision of the Part II, RECOMMENDED PRACTICES in the Planning Guide for Shipments of Radioactive Material through the Midwestern States. The second meeting was held July 28 during which the team worked to refine the language employed by the guide. Thoroughness and a sedulous attention to detail takes time, so the Planning Guide Review Work Group anticipates a few more meetings than originally planned to complete the job.

The Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group held its first meeting in a long time on July 31, 2023. The purpose of this group is to help MRMTC representatives' outreach to Tribes in their states. This is done through collaboration with the Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (TRMTC), Midwestern tribal representatives, federal agencies, and members of the MRMTC. Because there has been such a gap between meetings, the July 31 meeting served as a way to check-in with members and reset expectations and goals.



On July 9, the Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC) Executive Committee held its meeting in conjunction with the 77th Annual Meeting of the MLC. The MLC Executive Committee is the governing body of the MLC and elects leadership, sets priorities, and monitors the finances of the MLC and the Council of State Governments (CSG) Midwest. During this meeting, MRMTC member and Kansas Rep. Mark Schreiber gave a report on the project and the committee. He informed his fellow legislators on the activities of the committee, including the hosting of the 20233 Annual Meeting of the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF), and other interesting developments in the world of nuclear energy and radioactive waste transportation. Rep. Schreiber knows his stuff, having retired from Westar Energy (now Evergy) as the company's vice president of government affairs. Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station is part of Evergy's generation portfolio.

Looking forward, MRMTC Co-Chair Rodney Pitchford (Illinois) and staffer Mitch Arvidson (CSG Midwest) will be traveling to Idaho Falls, ID, at the end of the month to attend the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's (NWTRB) Summer 2023 Workshop and Board Meeting. The workshop will focus on the international siting of radioactive waste facilities and the board meeting will review the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) consent-based siting process activities.

Mr. Pitchford and Mr. Arvidson are not the only ones travelling in future; shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste are also soon to be on the move. The U.S. Department of Energy Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO)'s most recent semi-annual notification letter was distributed to stakeholders and projects up to seven shipments of TRU waste from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in Illinois to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico between now and July 2024.

Finally, we would like to welcome Trooper Glenn Goode to the MRMTC as the representative for Iowa. Trooper Goode currently leads the Hazardous Materials Program for the Iowa State Patrol, Commercial Motor Vehicle Unit. He is a CVSA Level VI Inspector and specializes in the enforcement of the US DOT Hazardous Materials Regulations. He lives in Ames, Iowa and has been in law enforcement for 26 years. Welcome to the MRMTC, Trooper Goode!

MRMTC Member and Kansas Rep. Mark Schreiber (left) attends the 2023 Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC) Executive Committee Meeting. Seated next to Illinois Sen. Elgie Sims (right).

The National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) held a Planning Committee meeting on July 20, 2023. Feedback from the Spring 2023 NTSF meet was discussed, and it was noted that most attendees at that meeting were pleased with the execution of the event. The Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (TRMTC) will host and coordinate the next NTSF Annual Meeting, which is planned for June 2024 in Denver, CO and in-depth planning for 2024 is already underway. Themes as well as the schedule of plenary and breakout sessions are being considered whilst the list of keynote speakers is being narrowed down. A save-the-date invitation will be sent to members by the end of the month.

As the form of the 2024 meeting begins to take shape, members now have the opportunity to review and enjoy the presentations from the 2023 meeting for a second time. All presentations that included digital content have been uploaded to the NTSF website and are available for your delectation and delight.

The next gathering of NTSF stakeholders will take place on September 6 and 7 at the Prairie Island Indian Community. There, the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) will be hosting its biannual Transportation Core Group Meeting. Consisting of DOE-NE employees and the leadership and staff of the state regional groups (SRG) and TRMTC, this smaller meeting will take a deep dive into DOE-NE activities and projects. Attendees may also be able to tour the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant in Welch, MN.

The U.S. Federal Railroad Association (FRA) Releases Updated Safety Coordination and Compliance Oversight Plan (SCCOP)

Spent-nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW or HLRW) have been transported safely by rail in the United States for more than four decades. The FRA has been involved with these shipments since the incident at Three Mile Island Power Plant in the mid-1980s, and it was in 1998 that the FRA first created a Safety Compliance Oversight Plan (SCOP) addressing the unique transportation issues associated with SNF and HLW. As the frequency of SNF and HLW shipments is expected to increase in the near future as nuclear facilities undergo decommissioning whilst other plants come online, the FRA has taken the proactive step of updating that document to meet the challenges that this future will present.

In June 2023, the FRA updated and released the revision to that original guide. The new document, renamed the "Safety Coordination and Compliance Oversight Plan for Rail Transportation of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel" (SCCOP), is intended to help FRA and state rail inspectors working with the FRA to prioritize their time and focus on issues relating to defined shipments, designated routes, and carriers that will transport these materials.

The new SCCOP was developed through the coordination of subject matter experts in both the nuclear and the transportation industries. The FRA worked with the Department of Energy (DOE), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), railroad labor organizations, representatives of affected states, and the Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (TRMTC) to ensure that the new document captures the unique insights and concerns of these individual groups and agencies.

Pursuant to these efforts, the SCCOP has two stated objectives: to ensure FRA has a methodology to prioritize its safety and oversight activities prior to the movement of SNF and HLW by rail; and to establish a comprehensive coordination and inspection task plan that can be used as a planning document. The SCCOP applies to both national security shipments transported in accordance with Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 173.7(b) and private (or non-government) shipments of SNF and HLW.

The 20-page document describes the general division of labor between each FRA operating discipline involved in these shipments and addresses the communication tree among FRA's teams -- including Safety Management, Incident Management, and Accident Reporting, among others. It delineates the general process of communication and coordination between stakeholders and, thus, does indeed fulfill the purpose of the original document from 1998 -- functioning as a field guide for personnel -- whilst meeting the two 2023 objectives of providing a methodology and a task plan. Though not precisely laid out as a procedure with step-by-step guides to what happens and in what order, the Inspection Charts, Safety Directives, Safety Management Teams (SMTs), and railroad assignments offer a well-ordered description of the many collaborators involved in the successful and safe shipments by rail and the specific role they will play.

Access the full text of the SCCOP at the FRA website here.

Nuclear News

Ohio Budget Bill Includes Last-Minute Changes For Nuclear and Hydrogen Infrastructure

Ohio's House Bill 33 underwent 11th hour modification in the early hours of July 4. Including a veto that would have allowed utilities to recover money spent on speculative infrastructure development, the changes to the law will now allow the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to charge fees to enable connections with hydrogen facilities blending with natural gas. Also notable is the inclusion of provisions for a new Ohio nuclear development authority. Read more about the changes to Ohio's legislative bill at the Energy News Network here.

Missouri S&T Will Solicit Input from St. Louis Residents About Nuclear Waste

Missouri University of Science and Technology received a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to study the question of nuclear waste in the state. A S&T team will assess and document concerns of St. Louis-area residents who live in proximity to legacy waste sites, sites where national defense-related nuclear material from World War II up to the Cold War is stored. Some residents will also receive testing kits and training so they can measure levels of radioactivity present in their neighborhoods. Missouri has one operating large nuclear reactor, owned by Ameren, in Callaway County, and Missouri S&T has a small nuclear reactor on campus that is primarily used for educational purposes. One of the goals of the S&T solicitation of input from residents is to engage them in the process of analysis and information gathering. "Right now, people are only getting information from outside sources. And they are only given the choice of trusting or not trusting that information," Shoaib Usman, associate professor of nuclear engineering and radiation science and the leader of the project at S&T stated. "What if they are able to go out, collect some soil samples, do the analysis and reach their own conclusion?" Read more from the St. Louis Public Radio here.

Apropos of Missouri's solicitation of input from St. Louis residents about nuclear waste, it was reported on July 14 that U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and local Missouri advocacy groups are demanding compensation for illnesses they believe were caused by exposure to nuclear contamination relating to the Manhattan Project. According to the report, executives of Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, which processed uranium in St. Louis, knew of the contamination risks in 1949. Yet, the company stored highly radioactive residue in decaying steel drums at St. Louis Lambert International Airport near Coldwater Creek. Now residents are demanding federal compensation for the illnesses they attribute to exposure. Read more from the St. Louis Public Radio here.

DOE Awards Portsmouth Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) announced on July 13 that it had awarded the Portsmouth Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract (PORTS D&D) to Southern Ohio Cleanup Company, LLC (SOCCo) of Aiken, South Carolina for work to be performed at the Portsmouth Site in southern Ohio. Work to be performed under the new PORTS D&D Contract will include, but not be limited to, demolition and disposal of facilities, process equipment, related process buildings, and other ancillary facilities. The D&D Contract also includes remediation of contaminated soils and groundwater, and disposition of uranium material. Read more about the contract at the DOE-EM website.

Radioactive Water From Minnesota's Monticello Nuclear Generating Station Found in Monitoring Well Near Mississippi River

It was announced on July 20 that the radioactive water leaked from Xcel Energy's Monticello plant last year due to a compromised underground pipe was detected in a monitoring well 30 feet from the edge of the river. Tritium -- a mildly radioactive form of hydrogen that can be produced naturally in the environment but is most commonly a product of nuclear power processes -- had been detected in low levels in the well but State health and environmental regulators indicate that no tritium has been detected in the river itself. The Environmental Protection Agency's health limit for tritium in drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter; the sample taken from the monitoring well showed 1,000 picocuries. The spokesperson for the Minnesota Pollution Agency stated that the situation "does not present a threat to public health, and there are no immediate impacts to the safety of drinking water or private wells." Read more at the Star Tribune.