The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently issued SRM-SECY-21-0107, in which it approved the NRC Staff’s recommendation to delegate authority to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
The NRC recently held a meeting to discuss the path forward on its plans to address inconsistencies between the two primary licensing paths for new reactors. The agency estimates that its streamlining effort will result in net averted costs to industry and the NRC of tens of millions of dollars. Comments on the first phase of this undertaking are due in April, and interested stakeholders should consider taking advantage of this opportunity to influence agency policy.
Background
In 2015, the Commission approved the NRC Staff’s plan (
SECY-15-0002) to revise its reactor licensing provisions in 10 CFR Part 50, which uses a two-step reactor licensing process (Construction Permit and Operating License), and 10 CFR Part 52, which offers one-step licensing (Combined Operating License). The revisions are intended to better align requirements between the two parts and to incorporate “lessons learned” from past licensing ac