NRC IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EPA-NRC MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (STP-04-026)All Agreement and Non-Agreement • April 16th, 2004
Contract Type FiledApril 16th, 2004On October 9, 2002, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on "Consultation and Finality on Decommissioning and Decontamination of Contaminated Sites." (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2002/mou2fin.pdf). Under the MOU, EPA agrees to continue its Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) deferral policy of not listing sites on the National Priorities List that are subject to NRC’s licensing authority. The MOU also expands EPA's deferral to sites for which the NRC license is terminated and certain criteria are met. Specifically, the MOU provides that unless an NRC-licensed site exceeds any of three trigger criteria, EPA agrees to a policy of deferral to NRC decision-making on decommissioning without the need for consultation.