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Important Dates
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*All times are Central Time
October 4:
Transportation Tabletop Workshop Work Group Conference Call - 11 AM*
October 14:
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Quarterly Conference Call - 2 PM*
October 22-23:
WIEB High-Level Radioactive Waste Committee and WGA WIPP Technical Advisory Group Meeting - Las Vegas, NV
October 29-30:
Northeast High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Task Force Meeting - Roswell, NM
November 13-14:
December 11-12:
SSEB Transportation Committees Meeting - Miami, FL
January 13, 2020:
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Quarterly Conference Call - 2 PM*
January 23-24, 2020:
Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (TRMTC) Meeting - Scottsdale, AZ
April 13, 2020:
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Quarterly Conference Call - 2 PM*
May 18-21, 2020:
NTSF 2020 Meeting - Scottsdale, AZ
July 13, 2020:
Regional Tribal Engagement Work Group Quarterly Conference Call - 2 PM*
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Join Our List
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COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS
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| Aaron Kallunki, Minnesota |
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Late last month, the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (MRMTC) received an appointment from Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. Gov. Walz appointed Aaron Kallunki to be Minnesota's representative to the MRMTC. Aaron is an All-Hazards Planning Program Administrator for the Minnesota Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management.
Committee members will have a chance to welcome Aaron as a new member at the MRMTC Fall Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, on November 13 and 14. If you are planning on attending the meeting and have not yet registered, do so as soon as possible because registration will closed on October 15! You can register
here. Additionally, you can find the preliminary agenda and book your room on the Council of State Governments
(CSG) Midwest website. The agenda is nearly complete and the meeting promises to be informative and entertaining.
Finally, the 2019 edition of the
Planning Guide for Shipments of Radioactive Material through the Midwestern States
has been approved and CSG Midwest is working on getting physical copies printed and sent out to all interested stakeholders. Expect to see brand new
Planning Guides
in your mailboxes by the end of October! The online version of the
Planning Guide
will be updated shortly thereafter.
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
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The National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) Planning Committee reconvened for a call at the end of September for updates on the planning of the 2020 Annual Meeting and the various Ad Hoc Working Groups (AHWG). From the call, an agenda planning subcommittee was formed that will design the program for next May's meeting.
No new webinars have been scheduled, but the Planning Committee is working on finalizing a "Webinar Development Process" document that will clarify the approval and planning process for future webinars. The webinar leads have plenty of ideas in the hopper, so we can all look forward to the next NTSF webinar soon.
During the call, it was decided that the Communications AHWG suspend operations until the Planning Committee finds a new project or task to warrant relaunching the group. Quarterly NTSF newsletters will still be sent out but they will no longer be the responsibility of the Communications AHWG. Thank you to Aaron Kallunki and Mitch Arvidson for representing the Midwest on the AHWG and thanks also to the the group's leads; Ellen Edge, Heather Westra, Ji Wiley, and Kim Tyrrell.
The Planning Committee also approved a new NTSF Charter and will soon begin updating the Management Plan to reflect the changes. The new charter will soon be posted to the
wiki site.
Speaking of the NTSF wiki site, a few members of the Planning Committee will begin researching possible alternatives to the Wikidot platform. If a better option is found, the NTSF may move the wiki to the new platform. If no superior alternative is found, the current wiki site will be returned to its original role as a repository for NTSF groups, webinars, and meetings. Regardless of the platform, the Planning Committee will also work on a plan for ensuring that AHWG leads and other NTSF members keep their sections of the site up to date.
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| FOCUS THIS MONTH |
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New Report from the United States Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB)
Even though DOE has not yet started rigorously planning for SNF and HLW shipments, the scope, geography, and time constraints associated with these shipments inspired the NWTRB to prepare the report. The report focuses solely on the scientific and technical issues and does not delve into destinations, routes, nuclear waste policy, public outreach, or funding. The board identified 30 different technical issues, including "Complete the design, licensing, fabrication, and testing of all needed transportation casks and associated components," and "Identify less-than-adequate transportation infrasructure (e.g., roads, rail lines, barge docks) at all waste storage sites; make needed upgrades." The 30 issues are categorized by certain waste types and certain scenarios.
Three recommendations to DOE emerged from the Board's study of these issues:
- DOE should ensure the issues in the Board's report are addressed, including prioritizing them and carefully sequencing them to support the integrated operation of a nationwide transportation program.
- DOE should give higher priority to evaluating the removal of commercial SNF from shutdown nuclear power plant sites and to evaluating DOE sites that store DOE-managed SNF and HLW. DOE should also share the results of the evaluations with operators of waste storage sites, so they can apply lessons learned, retain critical site transportation infrastructure, and be better prepared for the eventual transportation of the wastes.
- For planning purposes, DOE should allow for a minimum of a decade to develop new cask and canister designs for SNF and HLW storage and transportation, or DOE should conduct its own detailed evaluation of the time needed to complete the design, fabrication, and testing of new casks and canisters.
A synopsis of the report can be found here.
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NUCLEAR NEWS
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The United States' Big Ten Power Plants Are Mostly Outside of B1G Country
Power-technology.com recently published
a list of the nation's 10 largest nuclear power plants. Only two of the 10 on the list are located in the Midwest, showing that the South - and particularly the Southeast - is the cradle of the United States' nuclear energy capacity. The rankings are based on installed capacity and measured in gigawatts (GW).
Despite only being the eighth biggest in the country, Braidwood Generating Station near Braceville, Illinois, is the biggest in the Midwest. Construction on the Braidwood plant commenced in 1976 and the two reactor units went online in July and October 1988. At 2.39GW, the plant generates electricity for nearly two million homes and Units 1 and 2 are licensed to operate until 2046 and 2047 respectively.
Slightly behind Braidwood at Number 10 nationally is Byron Nuclear Power Station, also in Illinois. The 2.34GW plant began construction in 1975 and finished 10 years later. Byron's two reactors are licensed to operate until 2044 and 2046. Palo Verde Generating Station near Tonopah, Arizona (3.93GW), Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Athens, Alabama (3.4GW), and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in southeastern Pennsylvania (2.77GW) round out the top three.
DOE Releases Estimates of Transuranic (TRU) Waste Shipments for Next Year
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| A transuranic (TRU) waste shipment prepares to leave Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) (photo courtesy of Kelly Horn) |
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Every six months, the DOE Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) sends estimates of TRU waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico for the next 12 months. These estimates are sent in accordance with CBFO's agreements with the Western Governors' Association (WGA), the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), CSG Midwest, and tribal governments. For the period from August 2019 to July 2020, CBFO estimates there will be 350 TRU waste shipments. In the Midwest, up to five TRU waste shipments will leave from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in Illinois. Two of the planned five shipments have already occurred; there is no schedule yet for the remaining three, but they will likely take place in 2020. TRU waste sent to WIPP are shipped in TRUPACT II, HalfPACT, and TRUPACT III packages.
Energy and Water Appropriations' Possible Nuclear Waste Effects
Last month, the Senate Committee on Appropriations released
S. Report 116-102 on
S. 2470 which makes appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020. The committee also had a
press release highlighting the national nuclear security and energy research and development implications of the $48.866 billion measure.
Most importantly to the MRMTC, the bill includes $22.5 million for Integrated Waste Management System activities, the same amount as FY 2019. The report also states that, "Priority shall be given to accepting spent nuclear fuel from shutdown reactors and to accelerating the development of a transportation capability to move spent fuel from its current storage locations."
Additional nuclear waste implications are highlighted in the press release. "The bill includes a pilot program for consolidated nuclear waste storage, introduced by [Sen. Lamar] Alexander [(R-TN)] and ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). It also includes funding to allow DOE to store nuclear waste at private facilities that are licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."
Thanks to Steve Maheras for sharing the committee's report and press release!
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Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on
November 7, 2019.
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Missed a newsletter? Past issues are
archived
on the committee's webpage.
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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.
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Established by the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987, the 
