Nuclear fuel safety study deal reached

Washington (Platts)--31Mar2005

Staffs of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the National Academy of
Sciences reached agreement today on an unclassified version of an NAS study on
the safety and security of spent fuel storage at US nuclear plants, NRC
spokesman Eliot Brenner said. Brenner called the agreement conditional on
management approval by both NRC and NAS. If agreed to, a public version of the
report could be published by NAS next week, Brenner said. The classified
version of the study was completed last July. Since then, the agency has been
in talks with NAS over what information should be withheld from public
disclosure, and controversy has simmered over whether the study's findings
indicate enough risk for plant spent fuel pools that NRC should require
utilities to expand dry cask spent fuel storage. Brenner said NRC agreed with
most points NAS raised in the report and wanted only to ensure that no
information made available was useful to terrorists.

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