April 2021 | The Council of State Governments (CSG) | Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee
Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Newsletter
Upcoming Events
*All times are Central Time
April 1:
National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) Planning Committee Meeting - 1 PM*
April 12:
Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) Regional Tribal Engagement (RTE) Work Group Quarterly Meeting - 2 PM*
April 14:
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Webinar: Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Decommissioning Progress and Prospects - 6:30 AM*
May 5:
IAEA Webinar: Building an International Safety Framework for Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management, Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation - 6:30 AM*
May 12:
MRMTC Planning Guide Review Work Group Meeting - 10 AM*
May 17 - 21:
May 18:
2021 NTSF Virtual Event: DOE International Shipment Coordination - Perspective on Campaigns from Canada to the Savannah River Site - TBD
June 2:
IAEA Webinar: Experiences in Setting Up Funds for Back End Liabilities in Nuclear Power Programmes - 6:30 AM*
June 2:
2021 NTSF Virtual Event: Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program - TBD
June 14:
MRMTC Spring Meeting - 1 PM*
June 17:
2021 NTSF Virtual Event: Vermont Yankee: Charting a Path to Shipments - TBD
June 29:
2021 NTSF Virtual Event: Day in the Life of a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Shipment - TBD
July 7:
IAEA Webinar: Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Information System (SRIS): Benefits for Members States, Benefits for Collaboration between International Organizations - 6:30 AM*
July 8:
2021 NTSF Virtual Event: Nuclear Power Plant Site Evaluations Status Report - TBD
July 12:
MRMTC RTE Work Group Quarterly Meeting - 2 PM*
July 21:
2021 NTSF Virtual Event: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Aging Management Program for Dry Cask Storage and Transportation/Transportation Regulatory Readiness Review Project - TBD
September 20 - 21:
September 22 - 24:
2021 Radwaste Summit - Las Vegas, NV
October 11:
MRMTC RTE Work Group Quarterly Meeting - 2 PM*
Committee "Hop"penings
Check out our new website!
Hoppy Spring to all and lets hop into the latest news on the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) (no more Spring puns, I swear). Thank you to all committee members who filled out the Doodle poll shared in last month's newsletter. That poll helped determine that this Spring's Virtual MRMTC Meeting will be tentatively held on Monday, June 14, starting at 1 PM Central Time! Please mark your calendars and don't schedule anything else for that day. Like last year, the meeting should be one and a half to two hours and include updates from our U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) partners, updates from our Co-Chairs, and a regional roundtable, among other topics. Keep an eye out for further information and a registration link as we get closer to June.

A sincere thank you to everyone for bearing with us for the last year and a half or so since it was decided the committee's web pages needed an upgrade. At long last, the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Project's pages (and CSG Midwest's website as a whole), has been updated. Please take a minute to scroll and click through the pages and let Mitch Arvidson know if you have any suggestions or comments. Keep in mind that some pages are still a work in progress and/or will be continuously updated.

In other committee news, you may have caught MRMTC Co-Chair Tiffany Drake (Missouri) present during the 2021 Waste Management (WM) Symposia on March 10. Tiffany was part of Panel 107 "Stakeholder Involvement in Consolidated Interim Storage Facilities (CISF) Storage, Disposal, and Transportation Initiatives," and did a great job giving the states' perspectives on rail shipments. Referencing past and ongoing shipping campaigns, she encouraged shipment planners to involve states and Tribes early in the process, effectively prepare, train, and identify shipping routes prior to shipments, and involve experts in outreach to answer questions.

Then, on March 17, Tiffany, MRMTC Co-Chair Mike Snee (Ohio), and past Co-Chair Greg Gothard (Michigan) participated in a conference call with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). According to their website, the "GAO is an independent, non-partisan agency that[…] examines how taxpayer dollars are spent and provides Congress and federal agencies with objective, non-partisan, fact-based information to help the government save money and work more efficiently." In the context of this conversation, the GAO is working to assess the federal liability for commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and the options the federal government could pursue to dispose or manage said SNF. Tiffany, Mike, and Greg were able to provide some great background information on the states' points of view and we hope the GAO report can lead to some good outcomes.

Finally, the Planning Guide Review Work Group held its first meeting on March 17. This biennial group reviews and updates the "Recommended Practices" section of the Planning Guide for Shipments of Radioactive Material through the Midwestern States. With some timely and informative updates already made, the group will present its work for approval by the whole committee during the June meeting.
National Transportation Stakeholders Forum
After about a five month break, National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) webinars are back! On March 24, the NTSF hosted a "Type B Packaging Certification Requirements" webinar. Featuring presentations from Jeremy Smith of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Matt Feldman of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), this webinar covered the regulatory and testing requirements that go into determining whether a Type B package, which is used to transport high-level radioactive waste (HLW) and SNF, will be approved. If you missed the live session, you can watch the recording here.

If you did miss it, fear not. There are going to be plenty of NTSF webinars in your future, this time in the form of the "2021 NTSF Virtual Events" series. The dates and subjects are set, and once times and presenters are secured, you should receive registration information in the coming weeks.

  • May 18: DOE International Shipment Coordination - Perspective on Campaigns from Canada to the Savannah River Site
  • June 2: Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP)
  • June 17: Vermont Yankee - Charting a Path to Shipments
  • June 29: Day in the Life of a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Shipment
  • July 8: Nuclear Power Plant Site Evaluations Status Report
  • July 21: NRC Aging Management Program for Dry Cask Storage and Transportation/Transportation Regulatory Readiness Review Project

In other NTSF news, the Planning Committee continues to meet and make arrangements for the 2022 Annual Meeting of the NTSF in Philadelphia, PA. Finally, the NTSF Wiki Site Review Work Group met for the first time on March 18 to discuss its purpose. The group will meet this month to give the wiki site a fresh layout and color scheme and hopefully make the site simpler and more user friendly.
Focus This Month
A pictorial view of Holtec's proposed HI-STORE CISF. Photo courtesy of Holtec.
Consolidated Interim Storage Facilities (CISFs) Updates
For professionals in the radioactive materials transportation, disposition, and storage fields, its been a very long wait to learn the fate of two proposed SNF CISFs, one by Interim Storage Partners, LLC in Andrews County, TX, and the other by Holtec International in Lea County, NM. Some in the nuclear industry believe large scale shipments of SNF to these sites could begin within three years of approval, if they are approved.

Unfortunately, a decision has been delayed further, at least for Holtec International's proposed site. On March 25, the NRC sent a letter to Holtec informing the company that the NRC could not complete its safety review with the information provided. In September of 2020, the NRC said it expected to finish its final safety evaluation report (SER) by May 2021, assuming Holtec would adequately answer the remaining requests for additional information (RAIs). Last month's letter said that the NRC would not issue a new schedule for completing its SER until it receives further RAI responses from Holtec. The letter also named five remaining safety issues that need to be addressed:

  1. "Analyses and calculations of soil bearing capacity and soil settlement;
  2. Site flooding hazards analyses;
  3. Analysis of aircraft crash hazards;
  4. Building design specifications and hazards analyses for the proposed Canister Transfer Building structure and foundation;
  5. Clarifications to the site's shielding, thermal, and aging management analyses."

The bad news for Holtec doesn't end there. On March 29, the State of New Mexico sued the NRC for not sufficiently assessing the Holtec project. New Mexico's complaint says that the NRC has overstepped its authority and not properly considered how the project would impact local emergency response resources, possible surface and groundwater contamination, and oil and gas drilling in the Permian Basin. The suit also claims the NRC has colluded with Holtec and is acting as a rubber stamp for the project.

At the local level, elected officials in Lea County and the surrounding area support the project for its economic benefits and for providing a temporary solution to the stranded SNF around the country. At the federal level, both Holtec and Interim Storage Partners call for DOE to take ownership of the SNF and work with the companies on a temporary basis. However, DOE is forbidden by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) to take control of the nation's commercial SNF until a permanent repository is determined. These conflicting views at the local, state, and federal levels of government are sure to play out over the following weeks, months, and possibly years.

AP News has further coverage of New Mexico's lawsuit.

Meanwhile, things aren't looking so great just over the border for Interim Storage Partners' proposed site in Andrews County, TX. In Texas, State Rep. Brooks Landgraf has introduced House Bill (HB) 2692, under which "a person, including the compact waste disposal facility license holder, may not dispose of or store high-level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel in this state." It remains unclear how effective the bill would be. State Rep. Tom Craddick argues that the bill would simultaneously reduce fees and charges to store low-level radioactive waste (LLW) at the already existing Waste Control Specialists site. According to Craddick, this could increase shipments of LLW to West Texas and increase the chances of accidents. Furthermore, Rep. Craddick argues that the federal government has final authority over HLW and SNF, negating any state efforts at regulation.

KENS5 has more details about the proposed legislation.
Nuclear News
Midwest Legislation Updates
If you've been reading this newsletter for the last few months, you know all about the saga of Ohio HB 6. In a nutshell, $60 million were funneled to former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and associates to help pass the $1 billion bailout legislation for two nuclear power plants in the state. In the last month alone there have been too many developments to cover here. So instead, here is a selection of stories to read if you're interested.


Meanwhile, in Illinois, State Sen. Melinda Bush has introduced SB 1621 which would allow municipalities to "establish and collect a nuclear storage impact fee from the entity that operated a nuclear facility within the boundaries of the municipality. If passed, this legislation would be a huge boon for places like Zion, IL, which has been left with unusable, prime lakefront property that is being used to store SNF from the shut down Zion Nuclear Power Station. Thanks to Kelly Horn for bringing this legislation to our attention.

Another Illinois bill to note, the Climate Union Jobs Act will be introduced in the coming days. This bill is one of several in the Illinois General Assembly that seek to overhaul the state's energy industry in order to get to 100% renewable. The Climate Union Jobs Act differentiates itself from the others with its major support from labor unions and its generous subsidies for Exelon-run nuclear power plants in the state.

You can read more about the legislation in the Star Courier.

U.S. Senate Considers the Future of Nuclear Energy
On March 25, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources held a full committee hearing on nuclear energy, examining the latest developments in the nuclear energy industry and looking for ways to expand nuclear energy at home and abroad. The hearing generally focused on four topics. First, the lack of a robust U.S.-based nuclear energy industry has allowed Russia and China to lead the way in building new nuclear power plants in developing countries. Second, the lack of domestically produced uranium leading to an overreliance on imported uranium, especially from Russia. Third, the continued early shut downs of domestic nuclear power plants makes the goal of a carbon-free energy grid more difficult and more expensive. Finally, the possibility of advanced nuclear reactors providing safer energy with less waste. Noticeably absent from the hearings was a robust discussion on what to do with the nation's current stockpile of HLW and SNF.

For a deeper dive into the hearing, RTO Insider has more.

Fukushima: 10 Years Later
10 years ago last month, on March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan and the ensuing tsunamis cut off power to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and flooded its emergency generators. Without power to pump in cooling seawater, three of the plant's nuclear reactors melted down and exploded, sending radioactive gas into the atmosphere. 10 years later, cleanup efforts at the site are still in their beginning stages. 1,000 tanks already contain 1.24 million tons of contaminated water that is being treated to reduce radioactivity.

Science magazine has produced a video summarizing where cleanup efforts currently stand and how the surrounding community has been affected in the last decade.
Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on
May 6, 2021.
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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.