Ed Markey

I would ask you to respond in a very timely fashion, especially since you are going to be having a public hearing up here.

Has any plant ever been told that it needs a new NEPA review?

But I think you will find that the answer is in the negative.

In the latest version of the proposed decommissioning rule, the NRC would have no ability, none, to approve, change, or deny plants' decommissioning proposals known as post-shutdown decommissioning activity reports.

The proposed rule allows the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and plant operators to cut corners on safety and limit public engagement at the expense of the communities near nuclear plants, communities like Plymouth.

This issue shouldn't be decided by corporate profit and loss. It should be decided by public safety and security.

I am deeply disappointed in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear industry's failure to meaningfully listen and respond to the concerns of communities with decommissioning nuclear power plants.

I want to thank my Ranking Member, Senator Jim Inhofe, and the Committee on Environment and Public Works Chairman Tom Carper and Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito, for their support in holding this important field hearing.

For years, I have called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to do more to respond to the concerns of residents around decommissioning nuclear plants, but time and time again, those calls have been ignored.

I hope the NRC takes this opportunity to improve the rule.

Has the NRC ever asked a plant to modify a submitted PSDAR?

I appreciate that. But at that stage, it is like having a mechanic that checks to make sure you have all four tires on a car, and tells you you are good to go without checking to make sure that those tires don't have a hole in them. It is…

State and local shareholders shouldn't have to sit quietly and accept a decommissioning plan that could determine their safety, security, and economic future for decades to come without having a voice today.

So right now, under this decommissioning proposed rule, assuming no license transfer happens, is there a requirement that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must consider and respond to public comments on the decommissioning plant?

There was a clear failure there to anticipate those safety problems.

The Senate Committee will be accepting questions from Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Capito, and Senator Inhofe and other members who have a concern on this.

This is an historic community with an underlying economy and culture which has to be protected.

The community does not agree with you. More public participation is needed.

Do license termination plans have the same information in detail as a shutdown report?

Well, but you still don't have to formally approve the plan. You don't have that responsibility.

Well, if the NRC doesn't have to consider and respond to public comments on a plant's decommissioning process, the rulemaking just sets up a show trial.

Well, I thank the NRC for extending the comment period on the rule to August. We appreciate that.

Those suggestions were disregarded. And the frustration you hear from stakeholders and residents is the result of that disregard for the requests which had been made.

Yes, and on the Small Business Innovation Research program, of which Massachusetts has received tens of thousands of these grants and created hundreds and hundreds of thousands of jobs in our tech community, I am very worried that we are…

In Massachusetts the STTR and SBIR programs have been central to our innovation economy being created.