The following statement may be attributed to Judi Greenwald, President and CEO of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance:
"This has been an extraordinarily busy summer for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and its stakeholders. NRC proposed eight rules with comment periods in July and August.
“With these proposed rules now public, the NRC is nearly done with proposing all the rules under the wholesale rule rewrite called for by Executive Order 14300.
“NIA commends the NRC staff, management, and the Commission for their continued efforts to revise and develop new regulatory frameworks. We believe many of the proposed rules would enable more effective and efficient licensing, but NRC must put guardrails in place to ensure the continued achievement of adequate protection of public health and the environment.
“Across this set of rules, NIA recommends that the Commission: 1) preserves its lawful authority and responsibility; 2) focuses on risk-informed, performance-based and technology-inclusive regulation; and 3) issues sufficient guidance to ensure fair, predictable, proportionate and efficient implementation.
“In parallel with commenting on the rules themselves, NIA is continuing to advocate for an NRC that maintains public trust and its international reputation. It is essential that NRC provide much greater transparency, for example, by publishing what the staff sends to the Commission, releasing the Commissioner voting records, and explaining the role of NRC’s rulemaking steering committee.
“NIA sees many potential benefits in these rulemakings but strongly urges NRC to carefully review all the public comments not only rule-by-rule, but also holistically, to ensure the revised and new rules work as a coherent system. Creating strong, durable rules provides certainty for existing licensees and future developers, and assurance for the public.
“Over the course of the past two months, NIA has provided the following public comments on seven of the eight rules proposed by NRC:
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Reforming and Modernizing the Radiation Protection Framework (including the As Low as Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) principle, federal authority, effluents, planned occupational dose limit extensions, variances, and alignment with Part 53)
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Modernizing Reactor Licensing Rulemaking, Safety Oversight, and Siting Practices Rulemaking (including construction definition, risk-informing the process for licensee-initiated changes, decommissioning funding, quality assurance, emergency preparedness, optional submittals, license renewal, and siting)
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Modernizing Package Certification Requirements Rulemaking (including alignment with the Department of Transportation, international harmonization, consistency with other proposed rulemakings, and inspection authorities)
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Implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Rulemaking (with sections on preserving NRC authority and responsibility, environmental effects, categorical exclusions, community impacts, and guidance)
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Integrated Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Rulemaking (including NRC authority, waste acceptance criteria, thresholds for radionuclide concentrations, ALARA, and compliance periods)
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NRC’s Modernizing Materials Licensing Rulemaking (including construction, quality assurance, Department of Energy Pilot Program, and transparency and public trust)
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Modernizing Security Rulemaking (including technology inclusive regulations, vital areas, performance objectives, and fitness for duty program)”
The Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) is a non-profit think-and-do-tank working to enable nuclear power as an energy security and climate solution. Through policy analysis, research, and education, we are catalyzing the next era of nuclear energy. Our organization is funded primarily through charitable grants and philanthropic donations