NRC commissioners vote to end reprocessing rulemaking

摘要

NRC commissioners voted unanimously June 24 to end a years-long effort to develop regulations for licensing spent fuel reprocessing, saying there was no near-term interest in pursuing reprocessing in the US to justify the expense of developing a new rule. Commissioners approved in 2013 staff's recommendation in its paper Secy-13-0093 to develop a reprocessing-specific rule, following several years of preparatory work that began in 2006. By focusing solely on reprocessing, the rule would have revised NRC licensing regulations while incorporating applicable requirements at 10 CFR Part 50 and 10 CFR Part 70 and addressing the specific safety and safeguards needs of a reprocessing facility, staff said in its paper.