Keating, legislators call for expedited plant closure rules

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/news/20160319/keating-legislators-call-for-expedited-plant-closure-rules



Expediting transfer of spent fuel to dry cask storage is one of the goals of proposed decommissioning rule changes suggested by U.S. Rep. Bill Keating to the NRC.

Keating, legislators call for expedited plant closure rules
By Frank Mand
Posted Mar. 19, 2016 at 5:00 AM

PLYMOUTH – The Massachusetts and Vermont congressional delegations have joined together to urge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to overhaul its nuclear power plant decommissioning process to make it faster, safer and more responsive to community concerns.

The legislators’ communication to NRC Chairman Stephen Burns was provided as part of the comment period for the agency’s process for developing new rules and standards to guide the decommissioning of nuclear reactors across the country.

The letter, sent by Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. – both of whom have Entergy-owned nuclear power plans in their districts – called for a revised rule that “ensures prompt decommissioning of nuclear sites and meaningful opportunities for local input, particularly in how the decommissioning funds are used and the speed at which nuclear fuel is transferred to dry cask storage.”

More specifically the letter urges the NRC to adopt a new decommissioning rule that would:
· Enhance community involvement by requiring licensees of decommissioning reactors to include state and local officials’ input into, and for the NRC to formally approve, licensees’ decommissioning plans;
· Ensure that decommissioning funds are used strictly for statutorily-authorized purposes;
· Require spent nuclear fuel to be removed from wet storage and placed into safer dry cask storage as quickly as possible;
· Ensure that the site of the plant is rapidly returned to beneficial use instead of decades after the plant ceases operations, and that licensees maintain or obtain the financial resources necessary to do so;
· And ensure that all emergency preparedness and response, security resources and licensing requirements remain in place until all spent fuel is transferred to dry cask storage.