POLICY ISSUE

INFORMATION

January 23, 2007 SECY-07-0017

FOR: The Commissioners

FROM: Luis A. Reyes

Executive Director for Operations

SUBJECT: CHANGE IN MEMBERSHIP ON THE BUREAU OF THE

NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY RADIOACTIVE WASTE

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 

PURPOSE:

To inform the Commission of a planned change in the United States membership on the

Bureau of the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) of the Organization for

Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). This paper does

not address any new commitments nor resource implications.

DISCUSSION:

The RWMC is one of the NEA standing technical committees. The goal of the RWMC, as

reflected in the NEA Strategic Plan, is as follows:

“To assist member countries in the area of management of radioactive waste

and materials, focusing on the development of strategies for the safe,

sustainable and broadly acceptable management of all types of radioactive

waste, in particular long-lived waste, and spent fuel.”

CONTACT: Theodore S. Sherr, NMSS/OD

301-415-6099

David W. Pstrak, NMSS/OD

301-415-7260
The Commissioners -2-

Additional background regarding the RWMC activities to achieve this goal, are included in the

enclosure. Because of the value to the United States, of RWMC work, managers from the U.S.

Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) participate in the RWMC, as NRC managers do in 

other NEA standing technical committees. For example, Jim Dyer, Director of the Office of

Nuclear Reactor Regulation, serves on the Bureau of the NEA Committee on Nuclear

Regulatory Activities. The previous U.S. representative on the RWMC Bureau was Margaret

Federline. Bob Bernero, previous Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and

Safeguards, also served in a leadership capacity on the RWMC.

A number of changes are occurring in the RWMC Bureau. For example, a new Chairman, from

Germany, was elected at the last meeting (in March 2006), but was not able to continue serving

in his position because of changes in his responsibilities in Germany. Margaret Federline, the

previous chairperson, was asked to fill this role until a new Chairman can be elected in March

2007. Also, the Canadian Bureau member is stepping down because of Canadian government

changes. In addition, a new Japanese Bureau member began his term in 2006. 

Because of the status of the high-level waste regulatory program in this country, NEA has

expressed interest in the United States continuing to serve on the RWMC Bureau. Both DOE

and EPA have encouraged NRC to continue to represent the U.S. on the RWMC Bureau. DOE

plans to continue serving as head of the U.S. delegation at the RWMC annual meetings and

EPA plans to continue participating in these meetings, as well. NRC’s continued membership

on the RWMC Bureau involves, according to what has been the case previously, preparation for

and participation in, two Bureau meetings each year (where one of the Bureau meetings

coincides with the annual RWMC meeting).

At a meeting of the RWMC Bureau at NRC Headquarters during the week of December 15,

2006, the NEA Secretariat was informed, subject to internal NRC approvals, that the proposed

next U.S. representative on the RWMC Bureau will be Jack Strosnider, Director of the Office of

Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. Mr. Strosnider has a broad knowledge of the NRC

and U.S. radioactive waste management programs, and well understands the NEA

organizational structure and its methods of work, since he was a member of the NEA

Secretariat for two years. The Office of the Executive Director for Operations supports the

nomination of Mr. Strosnider as the next U.S. representative on the RWMC Bureau.
The Commissioners -3-

COORDINATION:

The Office of International Programs concurs in this paper. The Office of the General Counsel

has reviewed this paper and has no legal objection. 

/RA/

Luis A. Reyes

Executive Director

 for Operations

Enclosure: 

“Roles of the RWMC 

 and the RWMC Bureau”
The Commissioners -2-

COORDINATION:

The Office of International Programs concurs in this paper. The Office of the General Counsel

has reviewed this paper and has no legal objection. 

/RA/

Luis A. Reyes

Executive Director

 for Operations

Enclosure: 

“Roles of the RWMC 

 and the RWMC Bureau”

ML070180655

OFC NMSS NMSS TechEd OGC OIP NMSS EDO

NAME TSherr DPstrak EKraus TRothschild KHenderson JStrosnider LAReyes

DATE 01/05/07 01/09/07 01/08/07 01/10/07 01/11/07 01/16/07 01/23/07

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Enclosure

ROLES OF THE RWMC AND THE RWMC BUREAU

The Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) is one of the standing technical

committees of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy

Agency (NEA). The goal of the RWMC, as reflected in the NEA Strategic Plan, is as follows:

“To assist member countries in the area of management of radioactive waste

and materials, focusing on the development of strategies for the safe,

sustainable and broadly acceptable management of all types of radioactive

waste, in particular long-lived waste, and spent fuel.”

The means used to achieve the RWMC goal, as described in the NEA Strategic Plan, are

identified below.

Bring about a shared and broad-based understanding on the management of radioactive waste

and materials, particularly in the long-lived waste area by: 

• Providing multi-disciplinary fora for exchanging information and experience and for

promoting an open dialogue amongst waste management implementers, regulators,

policy specialists at government level, research and development specialists, and

stakeholders; 

• Issuing collective opinions on topical issues; and

• Preparing documents and databases on national waste management frameworks and

approaches for technical specialists, as well as decision makers, opinion formers, and

stakeholders.

Facilitate the elaboration of waste management strategies at national and international level by:

• Reviewing strategies adopted by Member Countries, with a view to identifying and

analyzing emerging technical and policy issues, and improving understanding and

consensus; 

• Organizing peer reviews of national programs for such activities as research and

development, and performance assessment, as requested; 

• Examining and improving approaches for performing long-term safety analyses and for

documenting safety cases; 

• Examining criteria for stepwise decision-making; 

• Preparing good-practice documents; and

• Liaisoning with other relevant, international institutions. 
-2-

Help elaborate common regulatory approaches in the management of radioactive waste by: 

• Identifying and analyzing emerging regulatory issues associated with the waste

management strategies of Member Countries; 

• Promoting the dialogue between waste management implementers and regulators, to

identify and address future regulatory challenges and integrate technical and nontechnical approaches; and

• Reviewing regulatory bases, requirements and criteria, and licensing processes with a

view to supporting regulatory approaches. 

Enable the management of radioactive waste and materials to benefit from progress of

scientific and technical knowledge by:

• Reviewing the state of the art of scientific and technical bases of geological disposal

concepts and decommissioning technology for nuclear facilities, with a view to

identifying areas where additional efforts are required; 

• Promoting co-operative efforts to compile internationally applicable data and

information, and benchmarking exercises; 

• Promoting joint technical initiatives in support of repository development and

decommissioning technologies; 

• Promoting initiatives to maintain relevant competencies, as well as the accumulated

knowledge, within organizations, during the execution of long-term waste management

and decommissioning projects; and

• Promoting initiatives to transfer current waste management and decommissioning

knowledge to future nuclear systems, including new fuel cycles. 

The role of the RWMC Bureau is: 

• To provide guidance to the Secretariat and the RWMC working parties on issues that

may arise between regular RWMC meetings; 

• To recommend, to the RWMC, solutions to issues raised by the RWMC working parties;

and 

• To facilitate the exchange of information between the RWMC and the RWMC working

parties.

The RWMC Bureau consists of five members representing the balance of the RWMC

membership. Thus, over time, the average composition of the Bureau is of two representatives

from waste management agencies, two representatives from regulatory authorities, and one

representative from a government policy body. 
-3-

The RWMC Bureau helps prepare the agenda of the RWMC plenary meetings and the decision

basis regarding the initiatives of the committee. The Bureau members are in frequent contact

with the Secretariat and, in their meetings, involve, as appropriate, the Chairmen of the working

parties and task groups under RWMC. Furthermore, nominated members of the RWMC

Bureau may follow specific initiatives, working groups, etc., in detail, to ensure that findings are

properly communicated within the Bureau, and to the RWMC. 

The Bureau members are elected from the members of the RWMC. To preserve continuity of

the RWMC program and, at the same time contribute new expertise in the leadership of the

RWMC, the Bureau members generally serve one or two terms of three to four years.