Additional information on NRC Proposed interpretive rule related to very low-level radioactive waste disposal and associated public meetings

The NRC recently published a Federal Register notice announcing a proposed interpretive rule related to very low-level radioactive waste disposal and will be holding a public meeting via WebEx on March 30, 2020, to present information on this topic.

This proposed interpretation of the low-level radioactive waste disposal regulations in 10 CFR 20.2001 would permit licensees to dispose of waste by transfer to persons who hold specific exemptions for the purpose of disposal, rather than needing the individual disposal requests approved on a case-by-case basis.  The NRC would consider approval of requests for specific exemptions for the purpose of disposal if they are for disposal of very low-level radioactive waste by land burial.  More information is available at: https://www.nrc.gov/waste/llw-disposal/transfer-vllw.html.

The NRC is requesting comments on this proposed interpretive rule within 45 days of publication of the FRN (i.e., by April 20, 2020), but is currently considering a 45-day extension due to recent circumstances.  If you would like to participate in the meeting on Monday, March 30th please use the following link to view the slide presentation in WebEx and the conference line information to join the audio portion of the meeting.

The WebEx link, which will work from any computer, is: https://usnrc.webex.com/usnrc/onstage/g.php?MTID=e11959406cffb25cb5b4ca24033f4741e.  We recommend you use this link to register in advance to save time on Monday, add this meeting to your calendar, and receive any updates or other information.

Please plan to call into the meeting at the following number, which is an operator moderated line:

Bridge Line: 1-888-452-8947
Access Code: 9838788#

Additional meeting information is available at: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2007/ML20072N111.pdf; the full slide presentation will be posted here and/or to the NRC’s public website at the link above as soon as the slides are finalized.  The staff is also tentatively planning another webinar during the comment period; a date has not yet been selected but interested individuals should visit the NRC Public Meeting Schedule webpage to stay informed of future developments: https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg.