On March 28, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission informed the industry via letter that nuclear plant operators can apply for 60-day exemptions from the agency’s work-hour control regulations—found in 10 CFR 26.205—to address workforce issues arising from the COVID-19 public health emergency. The pandemic has compelled some operators to limit the number of employees physically present at plants to “essential” personnel.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing a proposed interpretation of its low-­level radioactive waste disposal regulations that would permit licensees to dispose of waste by transfer to persons who hold specific disposal exemptions. The NRC said that it will consider approval of requests for specific exemptions only if they are for the disposal of very low-­level radioactive waste by land burial. Notice of the proposed interpretive rule was published in the March 6 Federal Register.

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office concludes that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s fee-setting, billing, and budgeting processes have improved in recent years, but that industry stakeholders continue to identify challenges with these processes and that further enhancements should be implemented.

President Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2021, released on February 10, allots $35.4 billion to the Department of Energy. Nearly $1.2 billion of that goes to the Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE).

The final FY 2020 appropriations were signed into law on December 20, 2019, nine months after that budget was first proposed, and it could be several months before final appropriations for FY 2021 are enacted. Those enacted appropriations could bear little resemblance to the proposed budget. It bears noting that while the FY 2020 budget request for DOE-NE was $824 million, more than $1.493 billion—an increase of just over 87 percent—was ultimately enacted.