ML19282B755
| ML19282B755 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/21/1979 |
| From: | Hendrie J NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Frey J OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19282B756 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7903160178 | |
| Download: ML19282B755 (1) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES NM g
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION CcA F-WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555
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February 21, 1979 CHAIRMAN Mr. James M. Frey Assistant Director for Legislative Reference Executive Office of the President Office of Management and Budget Washington, D.C.
20503
Dear Mr. Frey:
This is in response to your request of February 9,1979 for additional comments by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on the final version of the draft bill entitled " Spent Nuclear Fuel Act of 1979," and the proposed accompanying Speaker Letter.
The comments in this letter are in addition to those contained in my earlier letter of February 7,1979.
The Commission notes with approval that, as currently proposed, the amendment to Section 202(3) of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 no longer would result in the regulatory gap described in my earlier letter.
NRC licensing authority would be extended over existing DOE waste storage facilities when used primarily to store DOE acquired commercially gen-erated or foreign spent fuel, as well as to new DOE facilities and facilities subsequently acquired by DOE for these purposes. As discussed in my earlier letter, this result is consistent with the NRC's belief that considerations of public health and safety make it desirable that NRC possess legal authority to license essentially all storage of commercially generated and foreign spent fuel.
Regarding the accompanying Speaker Letter, I would like to point out two clarifying changes.
First, since proposed Section 202(3) limits NRC licensing authority to spent fuel " arising from activities licensed under such [ Atomic Energy] Act", references to " domestic" spent fuel should be replaced by " commercial" spent fuel.
The other change con-cerns the last sentence in the penultimate paragraph of the Speaker Letter which now reads:
"This provision would not extend NRC's licens-ing authority to facilities used for the storage of nuclear waste from defense and research activities." Consistency with the NRC's current authority under Section 202(4) of the ERA would indicate that the phrase "short-tenn" be added to modify storage.
incerely,'
7 9 0 316 O f ng
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