PERRYSBURG – Residents are invited to weigh in on how spent nuclear fuel should be stored
during a public meeting Monday.The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will host an open house at 6 p.m.
followed by a public meeting at 7 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn at Levis Commons.The agency is seeking
input on a new proposed "waste confidence" rule that would allow spent nuclear fuel to be
stored on-site, after a plan to establish a national repository for the waste has not moved forward.The
commission’s analysis determined that facilities can safely store their own waste over the licensed life
of a reactor until 60 years after it ends. An underground national repository is expected to become
available, perhaps in 2048.There are 100 licensed nuclear reactors in the United States which produce
about 20 percent of the country’s electricity, according to the NRC. Two are in the area, FirstEnergy’s
Davis-Besse in Oak Harbor, and DTE’s Fermi II near Monroe, Mich.The meeting in Perrysburg is one of a
dozen being conducted across the country; the final meeting in Minnesota on Thursday will be followed by
a webcast meeting at 1 p.m. Dec. 9.Access materials to be discussed during the meeting can be seen at
http://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/wcd/pub-involve.html. Anyone unable to attend a meeting but
interested in making comments may submit them through Dec. 20:• By emailing [email protected]
or visiting http://www.regulations.gov• By mail to Secretary, U.S. NRC, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001,
Attn: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff