Decommissioning fund spot-check program ended

摘要

The four sitting commissioners on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted unanimously on February 26 to end the agency's decommissioning trust fund spot-check program for operating power reactors. The commissioners approved the NRC staff's recommendation to "sunset" the program in its current form and perform spot-checks only on an as-needed basis. The recommendation was made in a January 15 staff report (SECY-15-0005), which noted that the program "does not appear to be an efficient or effective use of agency resources." The spot-check program was implemented following a 2006 audit report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that recommended that decommissioning trust fund holders report fund balances directly to the NRC, rather than the NRC staff's having to rely solely on li- censees' reports. Currently, the NRC requires licensees to provide biennial decommissioning fund status reports to verify adequate fund balances.