Decommissioning is defined as the orderly retirement of a nuclear facility from service and the safe disposition of the remaining radioactivity. 10 CFR 50.82 provides the regulations that govern the termination of licenses. The NRC may require information from a licensee to demonstrate that the methods and procedures to be used for decontamination and for disposal of radioactive materials will provide reasonable assurance that the dismantling and disposal will not adversely affect public health and safety. 10 CFR 50.33(f) requires that OL applicants show that they possess (or have reasonable assurance of obtaining) funds necessary to cover the estimated costs of permanently shutting down their plants and maintaining them in a safe condition. Methods and procedures considered acceptable to the staff for termination of licenses were delineated in Regulatory Guide 1.86.[1] This NUREG-0471[2] item was established to address development of additional guidance on decommissioning.
At the time this issue was first evaluated, the staff had decommissioning rule amendments under development
(See References [3], [4], [5], and [6]). Technical evaluations had been completed[7],[8] and a draft rulemaking environmental impact statement had been prepared in January 1981. The staff had also prepared proposed rule amendments[9] that were intended to ensure that decommissioning of all licensed facilities would be accomplished in a safe and timely manner and that adequate licensee funds would be available for this purpose. Based on the status of the proposed rule amendments, this issue was considered nearly-resolved and resolution was pursued.
Following Commission comments on the draft rule amendments submitted by the staff in SECY-87-309,[10] the final rule amendments were resubmitted in SECY-88-94[11] and later issued[12]; the FEIS[13] was published in August 1988. Following issuance of the amendments, the staff proceeded to develop an SRP[14] Section for use in its review of licensee decommissioning plans. However, this effort was superseded in July 1994 with a proposed revision to the rule. This proposed revision was submitted to the Commission in SECY-94-179[15] following which an SRM[16] outlining staff actions was issued. Thus, based on the issuance of the rule amendments in 1988, this issue was RESOLVED[17] and new requirements were issued. Consideration of a license renewal period of 20 years would not affect the resolution.
[1] Regulatory Guide 1.86, "Termination of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Reactors," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, June 1974. [8404100042, 9009140263]
[2] NUREG-0471, "Generic Task Problem Descriptions (Categories B, C, and D)," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, June 1978.
[3] Federal Register Notice 44 FR 68307, "Decommissioning and Site Reclamation of Uranium and Thorium Mills," November 28, 1979.
[4] Parts 30, 40, 50, and 70] Decommissioning Criteria for Nuclear Facilities, Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking," March 13, 1978. Federal Register Notice 43 FR 10370, "[10 CFR
[5] Federal Register Notice 45 FR 37011, "Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities Regulation (10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 50, and 70)," May 30, 1980.
[6] Federal Register Notice 46 FR 11666, "10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 50, 70 and 72 Decommissioning Criteria for Nuclear Facilities; Notice of Availability of Draft Generic Environment Impact Statement," February 10, 1981.
[7] NUREG/CR-0672, "Technology, Safety, and Costs of Decommissioning a Reference Boiling Water Reactor Power Station," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, June 1980.
[8] NUREG/CR-1930, "Index of Risk Exposure and Risk Acceptance Criteria," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, February 1981.
[9] Memorandum for J. Martin et al. from L. Shao, "Division Review Request: Amendments to 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 50, 70, and 72 on Decommissioning Criteria for Nuclear Facilities," July 7, 1982. [8209140007]
[10] SECY-87-309, "Final Rule Amendments to 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 50, 51, 70, and 72: General Requirements for Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, December 17, 1987. [8801130361]
[11] SECY-88-94, "Final Rule Amendments to 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 50, 51, 70, and 72: General Requirements for Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities (SECY-87-309)," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, April 5, 1988. [8804120065]
[12] Federal Register Notice 53 FR 24018, "10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 50, 51, 70, and 72, General Requirements for Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities," June 27, 1988.
[13] NUREG-0586, "Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, August 1988.
[14] NUREG-0800, "Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, (1st Ed.) November 1975, (2nd Ed.) March 1980, (3rd Ed.) July 1981.
[15] SECY-94-179, "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Reactors," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, July 7, 1994. [9407180100]
[16] Memorandum for J. Taylor and K. Cyr from J. Hoyle, "SECY-94-179"Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Reactors and COMKR-94-002"Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Reactors and Comments on SECY-94-179," October 5, 1994. [9410270085]
[17] Memorandum for J. Taylor from R. Bernero, "Resolution of Issue Number B-64, "Decommissioning of Reactors," of the Generic Issue Management Control System," September 26, 1994. [9410110028]
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