NRC, FEMA Set Meeting on Emergency Planning Revisions
The Oct. 29-31 meeting in Rockville, Md., will review proposed guidance related to emergency classification, notifying the public about an emergency, and protective actions.
Staffers from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will hold a meeting Oct. 29-31 in Rockville, Md., to discuss proposed guidance related to emergency classification, notifying the public about an emergency, and protective actions for nuclear power plants. The meeting with the public, state organizations, and industry representatives concerns proposed draft revisions to a joint NRC/FEMA document on emergency planning for nuclear power plants.
NRC and FEMA are working together to update "Criteria for Preparation and Evaluation of Radiological Emergency Response Plans and Preparedness in Support of Nuclear Power Plants," seeking to incorporate what's been learned since it was published in 1980. The draft documents are available at www.regulations.gov using Docket ID FEMA-2012-0026. The agencies expect to issue the draft guidance for formal public comment in late 2014.
This is one of two imminent NRC meetings that were threatened by the government shutdown. An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board hearing on Oct. 30 in Monroe, Mich., also will go forward; it concerns environmental groups' challenges to the Combined License application for a new nuclear reactor at the Fermi site operated by Detroit Edison Co. in Monroe County, Mich., 25 miles northeast of Toledo, Ohio.
The safety and licensing board is the independent body within the NRC that conducts adjudicatory hearings and renders decisions on legal challenges to licensing actions. The hearing, which begins at 9:30 a.m. EDT, will be held in the Monroe County Courthouse's Board Meeting Room, 125 E. Second St. in Monroe. Those who cannot attend can submit written statements via mail to Administrative Judge Ronald M. Spritzer, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, Mail Stop T-3F23, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001; via fax to 301-415-5599; or via email to [email protected] and [email protected]. Copies of written submissions should also be sent via mail to: Office of the Secretary,Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,Washington, D.C. 20444-0001; via fax to 301-415-1101; or via e-mail to [email protected].
Detroit Edison has applied to build an Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor at the Fermi site. Several environmental groups, including Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Citizens Environmental, Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Sierra Club, filed a legal challenge opposing the application.