Two Approaches to Reactor Decommissioning: 10 CFR Part 50 License Termination and License Amendment, Lessons Learned from the Regulatory Perspective

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:21208728

Watson, B A; Buckley, J T; Craig, C M ^[1]

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1. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards, Decommissioning Directorate (T7E18), Washington, D.C. 20555 (United States)

Trojan Nuclear Plant (Trojan) and Maine Yankee Nuclear Plant (Maine Yankee) were the first two power reactors to complete decommissioning under the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) License Termination Rule (LTR), 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E. The respective owners' decisions to decommission the sites resulted in different approaches to both the physical aspects of the decommissioning, and the approach for obtaining approval for completing the decommissioning in accordance with regulations. Being in different States, the two single-unit pressurized water reactor sites had different State requirements and levels of public interest that impacted the decommissioning approaches. This resulted in significant differences in decommissioning planning, conduct of decommissioning operations, volumes of low- level radioactive waste disposed, and the final status survey (FSS) program. While both licensees have Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSIs), Trojan obtained a separate license for the ISFSI in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 72 and terminated their 10 CFR Part 50 license. Maine Yankee elected to obtain a general license under 10 CFR Part 50 for the ISFSI and reduce the physical site footprint to the ISFSI through a series of license amendments. While the NRC regulations are flexible and allow different approaches to ISFSI licensing there are separate licensing requirements that must be addressed. In 10 CFR 50.82, the NRC mandates public participation in the decommissioning process. For Maine Yankee, public input resulted in the licensee entering into an agreement with a concerned citizen group and resulted in State legislation that significantly lowered the dose limit below the NRC radiological criteria of 25 mrem (0.25 mSv) per year (yr) in 10 CFR 20.1402 for unrestricted use. The lowering of the radiological criteria resulted in a significant dose modeling effort using site-specific Derived Concentrations Guideline Levels (DCGLs) that were well below the NRC DCGL screening values. This contributed to a longer than anticipated period to obtain NRC approval of the Maine Yankee License Termination Plan (LTP). By employing the lessons learned from its first LTP submittal, which was not accepted by the NRC staff, Trojan was able to obtain approval of its revised LTP promptly. While both licensees provided final status survey reports (FSSRs) for NRC approval, the Trojan approach to decommissioning and data management allowed NRC to efficiently review FSS records and supporting documentation. Therefore, NRC was able to review Trojan's FSSR more efficiently than Maine Yankee's FSSR. This paper describes the regulatory impacts of the two different approaches to the decommissioning, the development of licensee required plans, decommissioning operations and records, the differences in licensing processes, and the lessons learned for improving the processes. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 13023, Tucson, AZ, 85732-3023 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21208728
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--09-WM-06273
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
42 ENGINEERING
DOSE LIMITS
LEGISLATION
LICENSES
LICENSING
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MAINE YANKEE REACTOR
REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING
REGULATIONS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
TROJAN REACTOR
US NRC