1.42—Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
(a)
The Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) is responsible for regulating activities which provide for the safe and secure production of nuclear fuel used in commercial nuclear reactors; the safe storage, transportation, and disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel; and the transportation of radioactive materials regulated under the Atomic Energy Act. NMSS ensures safety and security by implementing a regulatory program involving activities including licensing, inspection, assessment of licensee performance, events analysis, enforcement, and identification and resolution of generic issues.
(1)
Develops and implements NRC policy for the regulation of: uranium recovery, conversion, and enrichment; fuel fabrication and development; transportation of nuclear materials, including certification of transport containers and reactor spent fuel storage; and safe management and disposal of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste;
(2)
Has lead responsibility within NRC for domestic and international safeguards policy and regulation for fuel cycle facilities, including material control and accountability;
(3)
Conducts high-level waste pre-licensing activities, consistent with direction in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and the Energy Policy Act, to ensure appropriate standards and regulatory guidance are in place, and interacts with the applicant;
(4)
Is responsible for regulation and licensing of recycling technologies intended to reduce the amount of waste to be disposed through geologic disposal and to reduce proliferation concerns since the technologies do not produce separated plutonium;
(5)
Interacts with DOE and international experts, in order to develop an appropriate regulatory framework, in recycling during development, demonstration, and deployment of new advanced recycling technologies that recycle nuclear fuel in a manner which does not produce separated plutonium;
(6)
Creates and maintains the regulatory infrastructure to support the agency's role in licensing a reprocessing facility and a related fuel fabrication facility and vitrification and/or waste storage facility; and
(7)
Prepares NRC to perform its regulatory role for new, expanded, and modified commercial fuel cycle facilities which may include recycling, transmutation, and actinide burning. This includes regulatory processes such as licensing, inspection, assessment of license performance assessment, events analysis, and enforcement that will ensure that this technology can be safely and securely implemented commercially in the United States.