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FEDERAL REGISTER 50TICE ON SECTION 223 0F THE EWPA i
.: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Compliance with Section 223 of
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the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 AGENCIES: Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission ACTION:
Update of the previously published notice of offer to cooperate with and provide technical l
assistance to nonnuclear weapon states in the field of spent nuclear fuel storage and disposal.
SUMMARY
- The Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in accordance with Section 223 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (Pub.I. 97--425),
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January 7, 1983 (the Act), published in the Federal Register on March 30,1983 (48 FR 13253, corrected on April 20, 1983 by notice 48 FR 16960) and updated and reissued in the Federal Register on April 6,1984 (49 FR 13858) and April 5,1985 (50 FR 13738) an offer to cooperate with and provide technical assistance to nonnuclear weapon states iu the field of spent nuclear fuel storage and disposal.
This notice is the third update and easin tenders this offer as provided by the Act.
Available resources, scope, criteria, and modes of cooperation are described in this offer, which will be further updated and reissued annually for the next 2 yeart.
BACKGROUND Section 223 of the Act provides that "it shall be the policy of the United States to cooperate with and provide technical assistance to non-nuclear weapon states in the i
field of spent fuel storage and disposal."
Section 223 (b) (1) of the Act required that within 90 days of enactment ofthe Act the Department of Energy and I
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would:
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Publish a joint notice in the Federal Register l
stating that the United States is prepared to coope; rate with and provide technical assistance to I
non-nuclear weapon states in the fields of at-reactor spent fuel storage; away-from-reactor spent fuel' atorage; monitored retrievable spent l
j fuel storage; geologic disposal of spent fuel; and the health, safety, and envircamental regulation of such activities. The notice shall summarise the resources that can be made available for international cooperation and assistance in these fields through existing programs of the Department and the Commission, including the availability of:
1 (i) data from past or ongoing research and development projects; (ii) consultations with expert Department or Commission personnel or l
contractors; and (iii) liaison with private business entities sad organizations working in these fields.
It is the intention of the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to offer to provide cooperation and technical assistance to other nations to improve spent fuel storage conditions as deemed'necessary. It is not the intention of this offer to include transfer to the United States of spent fuel from foreign nuclear power reactors.
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Section 223 (c) of the Act specifies:
Following publication of the annual joint notice referred to in paragraph (2), the Secretary of State shall inform the governments of nonnuclear weapon states and, as feasible, the organizations I
operating; nuclear power plants in such states that the United States is prepared to cooperate with and provide technical assistance to nonnuclear l
weapon states in the fields of spent fuel storage and disposal, as set forth in the joint notice.
The Secretary of State shall also; solicit expressions of interest from nonnuclear weapon state governments and nonnuclear weapon state nuclear power reactor operators concerning their participation in expanded United States cooperation and technical assistance programs in these fields.
The Secretary of State shall transmit any such expressions of interest to the Department and the Commission.
Response to the Offers This notice was first published in the Federal Register on March 30, 1983 and was updated and reissued in the Federal Register on April 6,1984 ard April 5,1985 (To date, nine countries have responded to this offer.)
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l Discussion and Description of Proposed Cooperative Activities and Programs For several years the United States has been
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cooperating with other nations as well as international organizations in areas related to spent fuel handling, storage, and geologic disposal. The Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have adhered to policies of sharing the results of their studies and programs in these areas with other nations and they have sought to establish a framework to permit U.S. private organizations working in these fields to cooperate with their counterparts in the other nations. To the extent feasible, it is the intention of the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to augment their I
international cooperative ties in these areas. Any arrangements relative to funding of joint research and development projects will be developed on a case by case basia s abject to program demands and the authorization and appropriation of funds by Congress.
1 In the course of developing the proposed new I
arrangements with other governments of foreign institutions l
both the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be guided by a number of factors and criteria, including the following:
Whether the proposed program of arrangements will be useful in assisting a nonnuclear weapon state in overcoming significant and timely spent fuel 1
storage or handling problems; 4
4 Whether the arrangements will serve to advance knowledge in the field; Whether the arrangements will help solve common spent fuel handling problems; and Whether t e arrangements will contribute to more predictability in fuel cycle operations.
While it is anticipated that in the near future most nations will be able to solve their spent fuel storage problems on a national basis, this is an area that could benefit from enhanced international cooperation. As noted by the Final Report of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Expert Group on International Spent Fuel Management l
(IAEA-ISFM/EG/26, Rev.1, page 4 July 1982), prior to 1990 j
there is reasonably good assurance that adequate provision for dealing with spent fuel will exist. During the 1990's, however, the Report states that greater reliance must be placed on spent fuel management options which are now mainly i
in the planning stage, and further states that "By the year 2000 additional capacity remaina to be identified and i
4 eventually provided. As greater reliance is placed upon planned facilities, some international cooperation could provide greater assurances that adequate means to deal with the spent fuel arisings would be provided."
Some new storage technologies now under development hold promise for achieving further economies in storage arrangements. Also, there are incentives for developing common standards and guidelines between nations relating to 5
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The following paragraphs in this notice briefly summarise the nature of the activities of the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in these areas i
as well as the major cooperative activities that these agencies would propose to explore or engage in, as circumstances warrant.
THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY I
The Department of Energy is now working with U.S.
industry and utilities to assure that sufficient spent fuel storage capacity will be available for meeting domestic needs.
U.S. utilities operating power reactors are presently storing spent fuel in water-filled pools at their reactor sites. In the next few years, additional capacity will be needed at some sites and the gravity of this problem could increase rapidly unless additional storage capacities are made available En a timely basis. Accordingly, the Department of Energy, industry, and utilities are now actively developing alternative methods for consolidating, transporting, and storing spent light water rasctor fuel in order to increase at-reactor storage capacity.
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The emphasis of this dosastic program is to work jointly with industry for developing and licensing alternative storage technologies. Within this context, the t
Department of Energy is now in the process of working with
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industry and utilities in developing and demonstrating spent I
fuel rod consolidation and dry storage equipment and technology in support of utility license applications and is participating in efforts to assure the licensability of the entire system for handling, packaging, transportation, and storage. In addition, monitored retrievable storage facilities are being evaluated as integral components of the nuclear vaste management system.
With these considerations in mind and considering the criteria cited above, the Department of Energy is prepared to engage in the following kinds of cooperative activities with nonnuclear weapon states and international organizations:
To provide information, in the form of exchanges i
of documents and reports, on Department of Energy funded research and development projects in the i
specific areas of spent fuel handling and storage;
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pool stor4ge; spent fuel packaging for storage of disposal; dry storage in metal casks, drywells, vaults and concrete silos; and on the technology 1
of away-from-reactor and monitored retrievable storage; To arrange, on an appropriate basis, visits and briefings between foreign representatives and i
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Department of Energy and contractor personnel in
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those areas and to facilitate, within the terms of applicable U.S. laws, regulations and policies, contacts with private U.S. business entities and organizatjons with specialized capabilities in these fields; To arrange consultations between foreign representatives and expert Department of Energy and contractor personnel to review and comment on, as appropriate, other nations' proposed development program plans and facility designs; i
To furnish, under mutually agreed terms, information on certain U.S. standards ~ and verified j
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computer codes that may be used for equipment, component and facility design; and i
1 84b To cooperate, as appropriate, with international organizations to disseminate information to j
nonnuclear weapon statee.
As U.S. program demands and the authorization and i
appropriation of funds by Congress permit, the Department of Energy also is prepared to participate in jointly funded
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development and demonstration activities such as:
The demonstration of concepts for disassembling spent fuel assemblies and for consolidating fuel rods in operating reactor pools; The development and demonstration of technology for packaging spent fuel for storage and disposal; l
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Activities related to assessing the feasibility of away-from-reactor storage, including foreign participation in, or observation of, U.S. tests and demonstrations of equipment and technology for dry storage of spent fuels; and The conduct of joint studies to evaluate monitored retrievable spent fuel storage.
In addition to the management of spent fuel in retrievable modes, the Department of Energy also is conducting extensive research and development on the geologie disposal of nuclear waste, includin's the spent fuel option. Where there is mutual interest, information in j
these areas can be exchanged through:
The transmittal of published information; Arrangement of visits and consultations with the Department of Energy and contractor experts on spent fuel disposal methodology; Program planning; and Systems analyses.
i The research and development activities conducted under the Department of Energy geologic disposal program include:
i The detailtd characterization of spent fuel as required for disposal; Research and systems studies on spent fuel disposal packages and containers, and their materials ;
Safety analyses; and Disposal repository designs, including their 9
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performance evaluations in various host rock media.
Under the cooperative activities that have been described above, the information to be provided could possibly include chchanges of documents and reports, visits with U.S. specialists, short-or long-term assignments, and the undertaking of joint seminars and meetings.
The Neelear Regaistory Commission In regard to the issue at hand, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is responsible for safety and env.ironmental reviews, licensing, inspection and enforcement, and the conduct of research on the safety and environmental regulation of reactor waste in the United States, including the handling, storage, treatment, and disposal of spent reactor fuel. These responsibilities include licensing dry and wet at-reactor and away-from-reactor storage, socitored retrievable storage, and spent fuel and waste disposal (including geological disposal) at permanent repositories.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is prepared to cooperate with, and provide technical assistance to, nonnuclear weapon states in the areas of the health, safety, i
and environmental regulation of spent fuel management and disposal activities.
Cooperation could include the following:
Making available data from past and ongoing
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research and regulatory efforts. These data consist of evaluated and documented experimental 10
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results, validated and fully documented computer i
codes, 'and research results for which documentation and evaluation are complete. These data are primarily documented as written reports, which theiNuclear Regulatory Commission can provide in specific technical subject areas, as agreed. State-of-the-art information on ongoing safety research programs can be acquired through attendance by representatives from participating countries at the annual Water Reactor Safety Research Information Meeting and Ether occasional topical meetings. Additional data more directly related to regulatory activities, such as I
regulations, standards, and guides, can also be provided as appropriate in specific subject areas as requested; Consulting with expert Nuclear Regulatory Commission personnel and Nuclear Regulatory Commission contractor staff. As arranged by specific agreement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, expert technical consultation can be pr'ovided by Nuclear Regulatory Commission personnel and, as needed, by contractor employees in the regulatory areas within the Commission's purview; Helping (to the extent permi tted by UJ. laws, regulations, and policies) foreign governments to 11
establish initial contacts with private U.S.
i entities that conduct business in the applicable waste management activities; Coop'erating, as appropriate, with international I
organizations to disseminate information to i
nonnucles'r' weapon states; and Participating in joint research programs. The 1
Nuclear Regulatory Commission is ready to negotiate and engage in jointly funded research programs, consistent with the Agency's mission, with appropriate foreign entities, subject to the authorization and appropriation of funds by the Congress.
Relationships with Multinational Organisations and i
International Scientific Bodies
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In addition to the foregoing activities, and within the framework of such foreign policy guidance as may be provided by U.S. Department of State, it is expected that the Nuclear I
Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy will continue to participate in activities related to spent fuel handling and disposal that are undertaken by international organizations, if a2propriate. These organizations have sponsored a range of activities relevant to this subject, and it is recognized that some nonnuclear weapon states may wish to avail themselves of the services of these bodies as well as the cooperative programs that are available bilaterally. The Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, for example, has 12
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been actively involved in studies related to the disposal of nuclear wastes. ' Also, as mentioned above, through the efforts.of an Expert Group on. International Spent Fuel Management, the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1982 completed a study ch the potential for international cooperation in the management of spent fuel, giving emphasis to technical, economic, institutional, and legal considerations. Several of the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency Expert Group could serve as a stimulus for further cooperative initiatives. Areas that may merit further study include the est'ablishment of nuclear safety standards recommended by the International
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Atomic Energy Agency for spent fuel storage and transport, I.
and possible further studies, as the interests of the international community dictate, such as multinational or regional approaches to spent fuel management and disposal.
Storage and Disposition of Research Reactor Spent Fuels The cooperative programs described in this announcement are addressed to the problems associated with the storage and handling of power reactor spent fuel that originates primarily in light water reactors. As such, they do not address any issues associated with the accumulation of foreign research reactor fuels.
Solicitation of Expressions of Interest from Monanclear Weapon States As the next step in developing this offer of cooperation and technical assistance, nonnuclear weapon 13
states will again be contacted through diplomatic channels to acquaint them'with this proposal and to solicit expressions of interest. The Department of State will transmit any such expression of interest to the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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Requests for Information Inquiries. about this notice may be sent to the following:
Ben C. Rusche, Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management,' 11.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585 (Tel. No. 202 /252-6850)
James L Shea, Director, Office of International Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 (Tel. No. 301/492-7886)
Dated:
Approval:
Ben C. Rusche Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Was,te Management, Department of Energy 1
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Dated:
Victor Stello, Acting Executive Director for crations, Nucl Regulatory Commission; 15
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MAR % 5 Y f/
k Ms. Billie P. Garde Director, Environmental Uhistleblower Project Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, P.C.
2000 P Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036 In the Matter of Texas Utilities Electric Company, et al.
(Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station, Uiiits 1 and 2)
Docket Nos. 50-445 & 50-446
Dear Ms. Garde:
This is in response to your letter dated March 7,1986 in which you request, pursuant to 10 C.F.R. 5 2.744 and 5 2.790. that the staff release the report prepared by the Office of Inspector and Auditor (OIA) regarding the "T-Shirt Incident" at the Comanche Peak site and the report prepared by the Office of Investigations (OI) of the Fermi Unit 2 Safeteam program, as well as related -document s.
As you no doubt recognize, the report prepared by OIA presents an assessment of the staff's handling of the "T-Shirt Incident" and not an assessment of the licensee's activities.
As such, I am unable to determine b
that this document is relevant to the issues involved in the ongoing Comanche Peak licensing proceeding, as required by 10 C.F.R. I 2.744.
Nonetheless, I am advised that the Commission has recently determined to release this report and its attachments in response to a request by Mr. T. Carpenter of the Government Accountability Project (GAP) dated January 31, 1986, and to place them in the Commission's Public Document Room where they are available for your inspection and copying.
Note that minimal deletions to these documents were made to protect the privacy and confidentiality of certain individuals.
OIA is currently assembling and reviewing related documents, as further requested by your March 7 letter, in connection with two pending FOIA requests filed by you on behalf of GAP, to determine whether and to what extent those documents can be released pursuant to 10 C.F.R. I 2.790 and 10 C. F. R.
Part 9.
Pending completion of OIA's review and determination, I am unable to release any documents beyond those identified
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i With respect to the OI report of the Fermi-2 Safeteam program, I am likewise unable to agree with your assertion of its relevance to the ongoing Comanche Peak licensing proceeding.
The Comanche Peak Safeteam program, which is a voluntary effort by the licensee and not one required by the NRC's regulations, must be assessed on its own merits and not in comparison with a similar program employed at another facility.
Your letter does not otherwise establish the relevance of this document in the context of Coman ;he Peak.
In any event, I am informed by OI that the report and related documents are being reviewed by OI in connection with a pending FOIA request to determine whether and to what extent the report and related documents can be released pursuant to 10 C.F.R. 5 2.790 and 10 C.F.R. Part 9.
Pending completion of Ol's review and determination, I am unable to release these documents.
Sincerely,
- c.. c.ai sipod by V.c t.or Stello Victor Stello, Jr.
Acting Executive Director for Operations cc: Service list DISTRIBUTION:
L. Chandler G.Mizuno E. Christenbury R.Bachmann G.Cunningham M.Karman J.Murray M.Rothschild B. Hayes G. Berry G.Edles J. Scinto V.Stello 7po J. Roe 1
T.Rehm J. Sniezek P.Norry f
NRC Central f
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NAME :LChandler
- EChristenbury :GCunningham :BHayes
- GEdles
- VStello DATE :3/18/86
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