NIST facility is now licensed until July 2, 2029
– By Mark McFadden –
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the operating license for the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) research and test reactor (RTR) for an additional 20 years. The NIST facility, the largest RTR under NRC oversight, is now licensed until July 2, 2029.
“This renewal is an important step in our ongoing efforts to resolve a backlog of RTR renewal requests,” said Bill Borchardt, the NRC’s Executive Director for Operations. “We’ll continue working on that backlog while thoroughly reviewing each application to ensure valuable research facilities such as NIST’s operate safely in the future.”
NIST submitted an application April 9, 2004 to renew the license for the reactor in Gaithersburg, Md., which last received a renewed license in May 1984. The NRC’s Environmental Impact Statement for the latest license renewal is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1873/sr1873.pdf. The agency’s safety review for the renewal will be available through the agency’s electronic document database, ADAMS, by entering ML090990135 in the ADAMS search engine on the NRC Web site at: http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm.
The NRC oversees 32 RTRs, 20 of which are under review for license renewal. NRC regulations allow for the reactors’ continued operation while the agency reviews renewal requests. More information on research reactors is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/non-power.html.