Senate bills aim to enhance safety, transparency of decommissioning nuclear plants

Following the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) release of guidance on safely decommissioning nuclear plants on Wednesday, bills introduced in the U.S. Senate would limit exemptions and require every nuclear operator to comply with an NRC-approved plan.

Under the Safe and Secure Decommissioning Act, the NRC would be barred from granting waivers or exemptions for compliance with emergency preparedness regulations unless fuel is being stored in spent nuclear fuel dry casks.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said regulators have to ensure that every measure is taken to protect nearby communities when nuclear reactors go through the decommissioning process.

“This bill ensures that decommissioning nuclear power cites process adhere to common sense safety precautions that have been on the books for decades,” Harris said.

The Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act, meanwhile, would take steps to ensure state and local communities have a role in establishing decommissioning plans for the retired plant. The bill would also require NRC to approve or reject every proposed decommissioning plan in a public, transparent manner.

“Communities experiencing the safety and economic impacts of nuclear plant decommissioning deserve a role in shaping those decommissioning plans for nuclear reactors near them,” U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said. “This input is especially critical given the potential for non-operational plants to sit for decades before removal and decontamination. The Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of 2018 would transform a process that is weighted almost entirely toward the power plant licensees into one that strikes a reasonable balance between licensees and the impacted communities.”