August 2021 | The Council of State Governments (CSG) | Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee
Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Newsletter
David Stradinger (North Dakota)
David Stradinger, North Dakota's MRMTC Gubernatorial Appointee
Paul Gazdik (Wisconsin)
Paul Gazdik, Wisconsin's MRMTC Gubernatorial Appointee
Sarah Chaney, Indiana's MRMTC Gubernatorial Appointee
Upcoming Events
*All times are Central Time
August 11:
August 18:
National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) Planning Committee Call - 12 PM*
August 24:
September 20 - 21:
September 22 - 24:
2021 Radwaste Summit - Las Vegas, NV
September 27 - October 1:
October 11:
Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) Regional Tribal Engagement (RTE) Work Group Quarterly Meeting - 2 PM*
October 25 - 29:
October 26 - 27:
Northeast High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Task Force Meeting - Philadelphia, PA
December 1 - 2:
MRMTC Fall 2021 Meeting - Chicago, IL
June 6 - 9, 2022:
2022 Annual Meeting of the NTSF - Philadelphia, PA
Committee Happenings
It is with great sadness to announce that as of July 16, Tiffany Drake (Missouri) is no longer a member of the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC). Tiffany will be moving on to become a project manager with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Legacy Management. The former Co-Chair (2020-21) led the committee through some very difficult times, including the COVID-19 pandemic that cancelled three in-person meetings in a row and the retirement of long-time committee staffer Lisa Janairo. A tireless advocate for the State of Missouri and the Midwest region, Tiffany brought a wealth of knowledge to all her work, especially on the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) Rail/Routing Ad Hoc Working Group (R/R AHWG), the NTSF Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program (TEPP) Training AHWG, and coordinating Missouri's preparations for the Vermont Yankee (VY) RadWaste Canister (RWC) shipping campaign.

Mike Snee (Ohio) will serve as the MRMTC's sole Chair until the MRMTC Fall 2021 Meeting in December when a junior Co-Chair will be elected to serve with Mike. Tiffany will also be vacating a position with the NTSF R/R AHWG. If you are interested in helping to facilitate a dialogue between federal staff from DOE, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Tribes and states, and other transportation stakeholders, to develop a common understanding of how future rail shipments of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) will operate, and to identify outstanding issues or questions to resolve in advance of commencing rail-based SNF shipping campaigns, you may want to serve on the NTSF R/R AHWG. MRMTC Members who are interested in this opportunity, please contact Mitch Arvidson.

While we say farewell to Tiffany, we also say welcome to three new members of the MRMTC! In July, the committee received gubernatorial appointments from North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Indiana. David Stradinger is the manager of the Radiation and Indoor Air Quality Control Program with the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ). Before joining state government, David spent 29 years as a radiologic and nuclear medicine technologist at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, ND. He has been the Radiation Safety Officer for the NDDEQ for the past ten years.

In Wisconsin, Paul Gazdik has been the All-Hazard Planning Section Supervisor at Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM) since November 2020. Prior to his role with the state, Paul served as the Emergency Management Director in Bellingham, WA, and Green Bay, WI.

Finally, Sarah Chaney joins the MRMTC representing Indiana. Sarah is the Radiation Programs Director for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and has been with the state for over three years. She is an Indiana University Alumni currently working on a second bachelor's.

In other MRMTC news, the committee held or participated in two events of note in July. First, on July 19, World Nuclear Transport Institute (WNTI) and NUTRANSTOR sponsored the workshop "International Spent Fuel Experience: Information Sharing of Lessons Learned and Best Practices." After helping develop the workshop's goals, the MRMTC provided a brief introduction to kick the session off. You may view a recording of the workshop on YouTube.

Then, on July 22, the MRMTC Regional Tribal Engagement (RTE) Work Group held its third meeting of the year. The group continues its efforts to expand radioactive material transportation engagement with regional tribes and is striving to complete its work plan by the MRMTC Fall 2021 Meeting.

Finally, the committee received a projection of transuranic (TRU) waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, NM, for the August 2021 to July 2022 period. During this time, the region can expect to see up to three TRU waste shipments depart from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) outside Chicago, IL.
National Transportation Stakeholders Forum
On July 8, the NTSF held its final session of the 2021 NTSF Virtual Meeting series. "Nuclear Power Plant Site Evaluations Overview and Status Report" was presented by Steve Maheras, nuclear engineer with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This presentation provided an overview of the DOE nuclear power plant site evaluations to identify transportation options for removing spent nuclear fuel and featured highlights from the 17 site evaluations that have been completed so far.

The last session of the series was supposed to be the "U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Aging Management Program for Dry Cask Storage and Transportation/Transportation Regulatory Readiness Review Project" session. However, due to the regulatory readiness review project having not yet been completed, this session has been postponed until later this year. You can find the recordings and slides from all five 2021 NTSF Virtual Meeting sessions on the NTSF Wiki Site.

The NTSF R/R AHWG met on July 12 to review the status of the comments, and how the comments were resolved, on the draft Railcar Safety Inspection Protocol. Seven organizations and several individuals provided comments on the draft and here is how some concerns were addressed:
  • Who will get the inspection reports? All states and Tribes along a DOE SNF or high-level waste (HLW) transport route would be eligible to receive the DOE inspection report document.
  • How do inspections fit together to create this Inspection Protocol? The four components are FRA Railcar Inspection regulations, American Association of Railroads (AAR) Interchange Inspection requirements, Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) Hazardous Materials regulations, and AAR Standard S-2043 Railcar inspection checklists.

The next steps for the NTSF R/R AHWG are for members to share the draft with their full committees for further review and discussion at the fall/winter meetings. State and tribal committees and individuals should return any additional comments to DOE by February 1, 2022. MRMTC members should expect to receive more information related to this in the coming weeks.

While not technically connected to the NTSF, the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) Transportation Core Group has many of the same members and covers many of the same topics. This group met virtually on July 13. Attendees learned that Dr. Kim Petry is now the acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition and will oversee the work of the Office of Integrated Waste Management (IWM) and the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Science & Technology. Additionally, DOE will soon be beginning work on consent-based siting of a federal interim storage facility for commercial SNF. The first step of this will be to issue a Request for Information (RFI) seeking general feedback on what a consent-based process could or should look like, as well as feedback or comments relating to the the 2013 "Administration's Strategy for the Management of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste" and the 2017 "Draft Consent-Based Siting Process" documents. The RFI should be released later this month and will help inform next steps which may include future Funding Opportunity Announcement(s) for communities interested in learning more.

Finally, the NTSF Planning Committee met on July 16 to discuss the end of the 2021 NTSF Virtual Meeting series, the status of the 2022 NTSF Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, and the NTSF Management Plan which should receive a final vote during the next NTSF Planning Committee call.
Screenshot from the "Nuclear Power Plant Site Evaluations Overview and Status Report" virtual event
Focus This Month
West Texas Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) One Step Closer to License
Late last week, the NRC issued its final environmental impact statement (EIS) regarding the Interim Storage Partners' (ISP) proposed CISF in Andrews County, TX. "The NRC staff recommend that, subject to the determinations in the staff's safety review of the application, the proposed license be issued to ISP to construct and operate a CISF at the proposed location..." In other words, the joint Waste Control Specialists (WCS)-Orano venture has cleared a major hurdle to its final approval.

The EIS must now be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which will then issue a Federal Register Notice by early September. Following this issuance, the NRC must wait 30 days before making a final, final decision.

The proposed SNF CISF site would be adjacent to WCS's existing low-level waste (LLW) disposal facility. If licensed, the site would be initially approved to store up to 5,000 metric tons of SNF and Greater-than-Class-C (GTCC) waste for up to 40 years. Future additions could increase this capacity to 40,000 metric tons.

The EIS examined the transportation impacts of the proposed site. According to ISP's application, a maximum of 200 SNF canisters would be shipped per year using the nation's existing rail networks, equating to roughly one shipment every two days. Using rail lines primarily operated by Union Pacific Railroad, SNF from existing commercial nuclear power facilities would be transported to Monahans, TX. From Monahans, the Texas-New Mexico Railroad (TNMR) would take the waste approximately 65 mi. north to Eunice, NM. WCS owns and operates a rail track that would take the SNF east from Eunice to its final CISF destination.

The EIS goes on to state that the radiological impacts for both workers and the public under incident-free transportation conditions would be minor. Even under accident conditions, the NRC believes the radiation shielding on the transportation casks would be so effective that the radiological impacts on workers and the public would be minor. It goes on to say that the non-radiological impacts to workers and the public from SNF transportation, such as occupational injuries, diesel emissions, and traffic fatalities would be "SMALL."

The NRC's EIS comes in the face of mounting opposition from anti-nuclear watchdogs, the Texas state legislature, and the Andrews County Commissioner's court. An effort by the state legislature to ban the storage of high-level waste in Texas failed to pass before the legislature adjourned on May 31.

Radwaste Monitor and Carlsbad Current Argus have more coverage of the NRC's EIS release.

Meanwhile, the other proposed privately-owned CISF, Holtec International's HI-STORE CISF in Lea County, NM, must wait even longer to learn its fate. The NRC plans to publish Holtec's final EIS by November 2021, and the final safety evaluation report/final licensing decision by January 2022.
Nuclear News
Buckeye Bulletins
News from the state of Ohio came early and often since the last newsletter. Nearly one year after his arrest for racketeering, bribery, and money laundering in connection to Ohio House Bill 6, former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder was finally removed from the chamber in a 75-21 vote. HB 6, which was repealed in Ohio's 2021 legislative session, was intended to provide a $1 billion bailout of two northern Ohio nuclear power plants run by FirstEnergy. Householder had refused to resign his position for months and has plead not guilty to the charges that allege FirstEnergy sent nearly $61 million to him and four conspirators.

The Columbus Dispatch has more on the ouster.

Part of the corruption case against Householder involves a concerted effort to intimidate, mislead, and disrupt the campaign to repeal HB 6. If the referendum campaign was successful however, Householder reportedly had a "Plan B." According to court records, FirstEnergy officials say he was ready to pass a bill declaring HB 6 a tax, not a bailout. Under the Ohio Constitution, laws creating new taxes cannot be repealed by referendum.

Cleveland.com has further details of the court records.

As for FirstEnergy, the company has signed a plea deal with the federal government, admitting to one charge of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. The company will now pay a $230 million fine (half to the federal government and half to the State of Ohio), cooperate with all government probes, hire a new chief legal officer, and review its lobbying and political practices. FirstEnergy's filing also admitted to funneling $22 million to companies run by Sam Randazzo, a utilities lobbyist who became the chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Ohio (PUCO) in 2019. Randazzo resigned in 2020.

RadWaste Monitor has more coverage of FirstEnergy's plea deal.

Many of the good citizens of Ohio will be receiving a refund on their next electric bills. Ohio Edison, Toledo Edison, and Cleveland Electric Illuminating will refund a total of $27.5 million in August. HB 6 included a guaranteed revenue provision that would assure utilities annually received at least what they made in 2018, a year with particularly high energy usage. Residential customers using 1,000 kilowatts can expect a refund of $8.95 to $16.18 depending on their provider.

U.S. News & World Report covers the refund plan.


The Lowdown from the Land of Lincoln
Two major milestones were reached in Illinois last month. First, ANL celebrated its 75th anniversary, having been chartered on July 1, 1946. After Enrico Fermi and the Manhattan Project team achieved the world's first human-controlled nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago in 1942, the lab's focus switched to peacetime purposes and moved to Lemont, IL. Nearly every commercial reactor used today can be linked to ANL's research.

Second, the Byron, Dresden, Braidwood, and LaSalle Station nuclear power plants have reached a combined 15,000 consecutive hours of uninterrupted service. This equates to about 41 years of carbon free energy production. Despite this remarkable milestone and despite providing 90% of the state's clean energy, Exelon, the owner and operator of Byron and Dresden, recently filed Post Shutdown Decommissioning Activity Reports (PSDARs) for those two plants with the NRC. PSDARs are one of the last regulatory steps needed to shut down a nuclear power plant. Without intervention, the Byron plant will close in September and the Dresden plant in November. If the plants close, staffing at the sites will fall from 1,500 employees to just 30-40 during decommissioning.

Exelon has called for financial assistance from the state and negotiations for a bailout have been continuing for months. Two major competing interests in the state, labor unions and environmental groups, have reached an impasse over the clean energy/nuclear bailout legislation. Labor groups worry that the bills decarbonization provisions would lead to immediate layoffs at coal and natural gas plants. Environmental groups worry that extending the decarbonization timeline would mean changes come too little too late. Caught in the fray of these tense negotiations is the future of Illinois' nuclear power plants. Negotiators hope they can resolve their issues and pass a clean energy/nuclear bailout bill before Byron's September closure.

World Nuclear News covers the 15,000 service hour milestone, Nuclear Street has more on the PSDARs, and NPR Illinois does a deep dive on the legislative negotiations.


Radioactive Hybrid Terror Pigs???
With a hat tip to former Project Director Lisa Janairo, comes a story from the Fukushima exclusion zone. Scientists have discovered that the Japanese Boar, endemic to the mountains surrounding Fukushima, have populated the areas abandoned by humans after the 2011 meltdown. The wild boars have also begun interbreeding with domestic pigs who escaped their farms. These boar-pig hybrids do not appear to show major signs of mutation despite being contaminated with 300 times the safe human dosage of cesium-137. Comprising 10% of the local population, the hybrid boar-pigs have also seem to lost their fear of humans, becoming aggressive and territorial when approached by scientists and locals trying to resettle the area.

The Register has more details from the exclusion zone and they also have public reactions to their story.
Who else are you gonna call when dealing with radioactive hybrid terror pigs?
Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on
September 2, 2021.
Missed a newsletter? Past issues are archived on the committee's webpage.
Please do not reproduce or create new content from this material without the prior express written permission of CSG Midwest.

This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Numbers DE-NE0008604,
DE-EM0004869, and DE-EM0005168.

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.