Inside NIRMA - Spring 2022

Issue # 13, Spring 2022
Leading the way in Nuclear Information and Records Management
Inside
The Future is now!
The MARVEL Reactor
magazine
Visit us at: NIRMA.org
Vinegar Syndrome
… Are Your
Microfilm Records
in a Pickle?
nextScan
The Hidden
Opportunities in
Your Dark Data
Shinydocs
To Digitize or Not
to Digitize: That is
the Question …
NRC

Contents
Spring 2022
7
9
10
13
Would You Like to Downsize That Reactor?
By Bob Larrivee, NIRMA’s Director of Technical Programs
Vinegar Syndrome … Are Your Microfilm Records in a Pickle?
By Matt Anderson, Vice President of Marketing, nextScan
To Digitize or Not to Digitize: That is the Question ...
By Marianne Narick, NRC
The Hidden Opportunities in Your Dark Data
By Jason Cassidy, CEO of Shinydocs
5
15
16
18
20
NIRMA Insights: Looking to the Future
By Bob Larrivee
ANSI / NIRMA CM 1.0 Standard—Spotlight
From the CRM: The ICRM Strategic Alliance Committee (SAC), Building
Partnerships That Create Long-Term Sustainability for the Institute
By Rae Lynn Haliday, CRM, NS
Chronicles of NIM: A Retrospective on Information Management in Nuclear Power
By Eugene Yang, KISMET Consulting, Inc.
Be a Student of the Business
By Lou Rofrano, PDBU Director
2 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

CONTENTS
Spring 2022
in every issue
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE—4
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT—6
M&MBU NEWS—22
TREASURER REPORT—22
INDUSTRY NEWS—23
Letter from the Editors
We at Inside NIRMA, value your opinion and are
always looking to improve our magazine. Let us
know what you like and dislike and what you’d
like to see more of. Share your thoughts with our
Communication Team at
DevereauxInc@outlook.com.
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moment to follow us on Twitter and Instagram,
like us on Facebook and connect with us on
LinkedIn.
Thanks for reading. Please keep in touch!
Neal and Sandra Miller
Editors
Editors
Neal and Sandra Miller
DevereauxInc@outlook.com
Advertising
Neal.F.Miller@gmail.com
NIRMA Headquarters
Sarah Perkins
NIRMA Administrator
245 Sunnyridge Ave., #41
Fairfield, CT 06824
nirma@nirma.org
In addition to our own
articles, Inside NIRMA
publishes guest articles from
agencies and vendors. Please
be advised that the views and
opinions expressed in these
articles are those of the
authors and do not
necessarily reflect the
opinions of NIRMA or its
Board of Directors.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 3

A MESSAGE From the President
Janice Hoerber
t
he NIRMA Board of
Directors met for the annual
Winter Board meeting and
engaged on what "NIRMA
future" should be and where we go
from here. We reviewed the financial
status of the organization and it
became clear that we must focus on
growing membership and revenue
opportunities to benefit NIRMA for
the long-term. The NIRMA
Strategic Plan was a good place to
start, making changes to broaden
NIRMA's scope and audience as
follows:
NIRMA STRATEGIC PLAN
Nuclear Information and Records
Management Association (NIRMA) is a
Not-For-Profit Corporation governed by a
Board of Directors and has members from
the United States and International
communities. Three Business Units
constitute the tactical organization where
committee work takes place on topics
mentioned below as well as organization
business.
Since 1976, NIRMA is the nuclear
industry’s educational provider for
information management. NIRMA is
uniquely qualified to provide guidance to
commercial entities and government agencies
in the areas of information and process
management, aligned with regulatory
compliance.
VISION
To serve the global nuclear community by
providing educational and technical guidance
for information and process management
professionals.
MISSION
To educate nuclear and associated
industries, agencies, and regulators in the
development, implementation, and
administration of information and process
management best practices and technologies.
CORE VALUES
To deliver products and services in support
of professional peer to peer interaction
focusing on continuous education and
mentorship, resulting in cost-effective
operations and excellence.
NIRMA GOALS
1. Develop and maintain
information management
standards and technical guidance.
• Maintain ANSI/NIRMA CM1.0
-2007 (R2021), “Guidelines on
Configuration Management for
Nuclear Facilities.”
• Develop and maintain Technical
Guidelines, Position Papers, and
White Papers per NIRMA
requirements.
The Regulations and Information
Management Business Unit
(RIMBU) is the primary lead for
this goal.
2. Provide input to the hard copy
and electronic records capture and
retention in the context of
ASME/NQA-1, “Quality
Assurance Requirements for
Nuclear Facility Applications.”
The Regulations and Information
Management Business Unit
(RIMBU) is the primary lead for
this goal.
3. Provide educational and technical
guidance for information and
process management to our
membership.
• Annual Symposium
• Webinars
• NIRMA Mentoring Program
• Online forums
• Custom/private educational
workshops on NIRMA guidance
by request
• Professional Certification
ICRM certification of Nuclear
Information and Records
Specialist (NS)
Certified Records Manager
(CRM)
Certified Records Analyst
(CRA)
Federal Specialist (FED)
The Professional Development
Business Unit (PDBU) is the
primary lead for this goal.
4. Promotion of NIRMA
• Target advertising and
marketing opportunities to
increase membership and
expand vendor participation.
• Increase sponsorships
(monetary or in-kind donations).
• Advance social media presence.
• Engage members to become
involved with the Business Units
and other NIRMA activities.
The Membership and Marketing
Business Unit (M&M) is the
primary lead for this goal.
5. To further develop relationships
with commercial entities,
government agencies, and industry
organizations.
• Maintain an open forum to
discuss and coordinate the
issues on information and
process management.
a. Encourage membership in
the NIRMA organization.
b. Encourage participation in
the Annual Symposium.
c. Encourage participation in
Business Units.
4 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

~Janice Hoerber
• Continue to develop and expand relationships
with organizations and agencies including but not
limited to:
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
U.S Department of Defense (DOD)
American Nuclear Insurers (ANI)
American Nuclear Society (ANS)
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME)
ARMA International
Configuration Management Benchmarking
Group (CMBG)
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Engineering Service Providers – Engineering,
Procurement, Construction (EPC)
Institute of Certified Records Managers
(ICRM)
Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO)
International Atomic Energy Association
(IAEA)
Japan Energy Records Management
Association (JERMA)
National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA)
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
Nuclear Information Technology Strategic
Leadership (NITSL)
Procedure Professionals of America (PPA)
The Board of Directors is the primary lead for this
goal.
You will also be hearing more about the launch of
a Special Interest Group on Emerging
Technologies (SIGET) within NIRMA (see article →).
We encourage each of you to help us achieve the Goals
listed in this article and support this great volunteer
organization!
I look forward to a bright future for NIRMA, as
we pursue changes that will benefit our membership
for the long-term and keep NIRMA on the forefront
of emerging topics and guidance!
NIRMA
NIRMA: LOOKING TO
THE FUTURE
i
By Bob Larrivee
am pleased to announce a new initiative by
NIRMA. The Board of Directors has approved
the creation of a Special Interest Group (SIG) to
research emerging technologies, assess how they
will impact information and records management
practices in the nuclear industry, and work with RIMBU
and PDBU on the creation of Technical Guidelines and
Educational materials.
Referred to a SIGET, this group will bring NIRMA
members and the Solution Provider community
together with the intent to developing and delivering
the highest level of user guidance for the NIRMA
membership.
As part of this group’s focus, we will work to bring
the supplier community into the development of our
white papers, positioning papers and technical
guidelines. We feel there is a great synergy with this
approach as you know the technology better than we
do, and we know the requirements of the nuclear
information and records management
sector. Technologies including robotics, Artificial
Intelligence, Automated Capture, Digital Signatures,
Interactive PDFs, and even new reactor development
are examples of technologies SIGET will monitor.
When asked about the new SIG, NIRMA Member
Gil Brueckner of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
commented,
“I'm looking forward to participating in the new SIG. As I
shared with the board recently, GE Hitachi is working with
customers on the design and deployment of BWRX-300 small
modular reactors in North America and around the world.
Collectively, we encourage input from the nuclear standards
community as to how to effectively move forward with new
technology while complying with regulatory and customer
requirements. My hope is that the new SIG will quickly lead to
NIRMA white papers, position papers and technical guides that
we can reference."
As we draw closer to NIRMA Symposium 2022, I will
provide more information about SIGET and how this
group is progressing. If you are interested in
participating, please feel free to reach out to me directly
at blarrivee@hotmail.com.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 5

FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT
Bruce Walters, CRM/NS
g
reetings everyone. In less
than six months, we will be
gathering again for the 2022
Nuclear Information
Management Symposium
(August 1-3) at the JW Marriott
Resort and Spa in Las Vegas,
Nevada. Plans are in the works to
welcome all of you back in-person in
August. Last year, we successfully
hosted many of you in person and it
went quite well. We followed
Nevada COVID protocols then and
we will be following proper
protocols this year to have a
successful and safe symposium.
The NIRMA Board
decided at the Winter Board
meeting to go fully in person,
with a few Keynote speakers
being remote, if required.
Symposium registration fees,
which includes the 2023
membership fee, have
increased for 2022 as the
past two years were more
costly than we anticipated.
The Call for Papers has been
published a couple of times in our
monthly emails and is also available
on our website at nirma.org/annualsymposium
under the SPEAK tab. I
encourage you to register as a
Speaker for a discount, share your
experiences, and educate the rest of
us. There are so many
knowledgeable members in NIRMA
and you will have an audience who
will appreciate you taking that leap
of faith. You can be a teacher and a
learner at the same time. A list of
possible topics is included on the
Call for Papers. Everyone loves
Case Studies because they are real
world experiences that colleagues are
sharing, whether a project or process
went swimmingly well or terribly
wrong. The possibilities are endless.
In life, we all learn from our
successes and failures. Please share
yours.
We are looking at changing up the
flow of the symposium from the
past couple years, to include a
Fundamentals track for newbies,
professional development, and
breaks while still incorporating what
you are used to educationally at the
symposium.
We had a successful panel
discussion on Configuration
Management last year. 2021 survey
responses asked for more on CM.
The plan is to have 30-minute
sessions of each of the CM
foundation legs. Who’s game to take
on one of the sections?
We have invited nearly two dozen
of our exhibitor contacts to attend
the Symposium and will have an
Exhibitor Hall just as we have had in
past years. This year, we are inviting
the first five registered exhibitors to
give a scheduled 15-minute standalone
session about their company
and product/service on Monday and
Tuesday. We will have a session
where we can Visit the Vendors.
And as is routine, we will host a
Networking Reception with them at
the end of the day on Tuesday. If
you are an exhibitor and want this
opportunity, please contact Sarah at
nirma@nirma.org to register.
We are also looking for companies
to sponsor events such as meals or
after-hour receptions. Your
company will be recognized on our
website and at the symposium.
We hosted a successful hybrid
event last year! We are working to
improve upon the experience with a
fully in-person Symposium and to
offer more opportunities for our
attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors
in this 46 th annual event. I plan to
be at the 2022 NIRMA Symposium
in August and look forward to
greeting you there.
6 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

Would you like to
downsize that reactor?
By Bob Larrivee
NIRMA’s Director of Technical Programs
w
hile the fast-food industry
asks if you want to supersize
your order, the nuclear
industry is now moving to
downsize the reactors.
This is confirmed in a recent
article published by the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Office of
Nuclear Energy titled “Idaho
National Laboratory Builds Full-
Scale Prototype for Microreactor
Project” (click here to read full
article). The article reveals work on
a prototype microreactor known as
the MARVEL and a component
known as the primary coolant
apparatus test (PCAT). Marvel is a
sodium-potassium cooled
microreactor designed to generate
100 kilowatts of power and could
be operational within the next two
years.
This is but one example of the
works in progress around the globe,
to create smaller nuclear reactors
that could deliver electricity, powerspecific
devices like pumping
stations, and other yet to be
identified applications.
Of course, the question, in
relation to NIRMA, is how this
impacts us and what it means in
terms of information and records
management practices. This is the
point of my article, to bring this
awareness to the forefront now,
begin to understand the nuances of
this next generation of reactors, and
plan for it now rather than play
catch up after these devices are put
into operation.
IN MY VIEW
Technology is evolving at a faster
pace than ever before and will
continue to accelerate as time
passes. As information
The MARVEL microreactor prototype in
the Materials and Fuels Complex’s
machine shop.
professionals, we must be aware of
these changes and prepare as best
we can for the eventual transition of
our workplaces as these
technologies are put into action.
If nothing more, we should be
assessing our current information
and process management practices
and evaluating these against what
we learn about the pending changes
like mini and microreactors.
Consider that the construction,
operational elements, disposal and
waste retention might be
significantly different as will the
requirements for the information
generated and records keeping
practices.
As these new nuclear
implementations evolve and
become the reality, we must prepare
for how our roles will be impacted.
We must ask questions surrounding
the construction data, portability of
these units, geolocation tracking
data, and many more elements we
currently are not tasked with today.
The future is now for technology.
The future must become now for
information professionals in the
nuclear industry.
Bob Larrivee is a Purveyor of
Autonomous Automation – Retired.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 7

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Vinegar Syndrome …
Are Your Microfilm
Records in a
Pickle?
By Matt Anderson,
Vice President of Marketing,
nextScan
N
uclear records managers have
long relied on microfilm and
microfiche for their plant’s
long-term information storage
requirements. One of the beliefs
about microfilm was that it would
last at least 500 years, much longer
than a nuclear plant would be in
operation. However, that is not the
Acetate fill with Vinegar Syndrome
case. The first reported film
degradation came from the
Government of India in the 1950’s.
They stored their film in hot, humid
conditions. As researchers studied
the problem, it became clear that all
film would eventually break down;
however, if it was not stored in cool
and dry environment, it would
break down much faster.
“Vinegar Syndrome” describes
the chemical reaction that occurs
when acetate ions react with
moisture to form acetic acid (also
known as “Vinegar Rot”). The
smell is an indicator that the film is
breaking down. When this happens,
the film becomes brittle and
shrinks, which distorts the images.
The reaction that causes Vinegar
Syndrome is an autocatalytic
process; once the film is infected,
the remaining life of the film is
short, as the process feeds on itself,
destroying the film at an accelerated
pace. The fact that the film is stored
in a roll compounds the issue, as
the acetic acid is only released
through the edges.
What is that smell?
Perhaps you have asked
yourself, “what is that smell?” If
you smell vinegar where your
microfilm and microfiche is stored,
you already have a problem. If you
notice a smell and choose to
investigate, do so carefully. Wearing
either latex or PVC gloves is
recommended. Note, acetic acid is
water-soluble and any moisture can
create an acidic solution with the
potential to burn you, or worse, if it
comes in contact with eyes or
inhaled into the lungs. Any place on
the body with moisture can create a
painful reaction. In all likelihood,
when inspecting a roll of microfilm,
you will notice little red dots. These
red dots are irreversible, by going
through a process known as
“brown tone” it is possible to
prevent the red dots from spreading
further. This delays the decay, but
nothing can stop it. The only
alternatives to avoiding Vinegar
Syndrome is to make a copy of the
film onto a new roll of film that
does not break down, or to scan the
Continued on next page.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 9

Continued from previous page.
film and make a digital archive
that can be viewed using a PC on
a local area network.
The only option to
preserve the
precious
information
contained on old
acetate film is to
convert it.
Save the information –
Convert!
The only option to preserve
the precious information
contained on old acetate film is to
convert it. Using high-speed line
scan cameras with stop motion
lighting, a complete roll of
microfilm can be digitized edge-to
-edge, end-to-end, and stored as a
digital roll of film. Every piece of
the roll of film is captured;
nothing is missed. nextScan
scanners and “Virtual Film” are
being used to preserve the
information being lost to Vinegar
Syndrome and making the stored
information readily available for
future generations.
nextScan has the equipment to
help transition your records into a
safe and readable format. Call 208-
514-4000 or contact us today to
see a demonstration.
www.nextscan.com
To Digitize or Not to
Digitize: That is the
Question…
By Marianne Narick, NRC, Team
Lead, Records Management
M-19-21, “Transition to Electronic Records,”
set the goal line.
A
fter December 31, 2022, the
National Archives and
Records Administration
(NARA)
will only accept
electronic records
or content in a
digital format.
They will no
longer accept
analog or text
records including
paper documents,
microfiche,
cassette tapes,
maps, photos,
diagrams, etc. As a
regulatory agency having a long
history of developing and
maintaining a significant number of
permanent records (estimated to be
30% of all NRC records), the
question about what to do with the
voluminous amount of these
records looms heavily on Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC)
leadership and, particularly, records
management staff. But the
requirement to transition to
electronic records management is
not really a new initiative, and the
criticality of ensuring staff access to
records required to support the
agency public safety mission has
always been a priority.
Since
2014, the agency
has made
substantial
progress in
digitizing millions
of pages of paper
analog records. To
date, the agency
has scanned,
profiled, and
declared almost
600,000 legacy
paper records making them easily
accessible to staff in the Agencywide
Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS), the
agency’s official records repository.
In 2019, based on a report from the
NRC Committee to Review Generic
Requirements (CRGR) and working
with several NRC staff offices, the
NRC Office of the Chief
Information Officer (OCIO)
identified NRC collections that
contain key docketed information
(e.g., design-basis, licensing,
amendment, inspections) meriting
10 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

digitization. Scanning commenced of Nuclear
Document System (NUDOCS) microfiche and aperture
cards for records generated or received between 1979
and 1999 so that they could be ingested into ADAMS.
By December 2020, this work resulted in the addition of
43 million pages (more than 2.1 million documents)
being uploaded into ADAMS. In addition, since
October 2020, the agency began transferring reel-to-reel
and cassette audio tapes to digital format and also began
scanning maps and photos so that they could be placed
in ADAMS; the COVID-19 public health emergency
necessarily thwarted these efforts, but work has now
resumed.
Despite these large scale digitization efforts, the
NRC continues to face the crisis of what to do with so
many remaining analog and text records. The agency
does not plan to engage in further large-scale digitization
projects due the high cost to digitize records and budget
constraints, but rather established a prioritization
process for future digitization. OCIO will continue to
evaluate the agency’s Information Inventories and
collections/records that are candidates for digitization
and uploading into ADAMS, including those in the
Regions, such as the unique Three Mile Island collection
in Region I. But with each identified collection, staff will
prioritize them by conducting an analysis to guide the
decision-making process where the inherent value, cost
effectiveness, and projected time required to digitize and
add the documents to ADAMS is evaluated. Specific
value-driven criteria to support digitization prioritization
are: lifespan (permanent, temporary); type (e.g., designbasis,
rulemaking, Commission records, corporate);
image quality (e.g., legibility, etc.); ease of digitization
(e.g., electronic, microfiche, paper, carbon copy,
facsimile); and frequency of retrieval along with cost
considerations for retrieval. To comply with M-19-21,
records that do not warrant digitization and/or highvalue
records for which insufficient resources are
currently available, will be transferred to Federal
Records Centers (FRCs) by NARA’s December 31,
2022, deadline. As resources become available, staff will
retrieve high-value analog records to accomplish desired
digitization.
A preliminary inventory of known microfiche was
conducted by the staff in early 2020 and is being
validated at this time through further assessment and
evaluation of the content of the Headquarters (HQ) File
Room. Upon completion of this assessment, staff will
prepare boxes for transfer to FRCs when they fully
reopen (as of November 7, 2021, the FRCs have
maintained phased reopening at 25% operational
capacity). With completion of validation of the analog
records inventory, NRC records management staff will
prepare an estimate of the costs and a proposed
schedule for the transfer of permanent and temporary
records to FRCs. The NRC typically sends analog
records to FRCs for storage on a quarterly and an “as
needed” basis. The NRC currently stores about 34,000
boxes of analog records at six different FRCs across the
nation.
The average storage costs per year is approximately
$192,000; however, this figure fluctuates as temporary
and permanent records are added or withdrawn from
FRC storage. On an annual basis, the agency transfers
physical and legal custody of permanent records to the
National Archives, either sending records from the
NRC to the National Archives, or administratively
transferring records from FRCs to the National
Archives. It is projected that the total storage costs for
analog records will increase because of the shipment of
boxes to FRCs prior to the December 31, 2022 deadline.
… our game plan, to achieve
compliance with M-19-21 by
tackling the analog and text
record problem and ensuring
an electronic records
management win …
So, what are the next steps for the NRC?
“Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?”
Seriously! This isn’t English Literature 101 !#@&%$!
At the NRC, the next steps are to keep moving
forward with our game plan to achieve compliance with
M-19-21 by tackling the analog and text record problem
and ensuring an electronic records management win…
we’re only yards away from the end zone!
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 11

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The Hidden
Opportunities in Your
Dark Data
By Jason Cassidy,
CEO of Shinydocs
ou hear it all the time: data is
Y
a key asset to your
organization, it’s the
foundation of all that you
do. And yet, too often when
thinking about data with real
business value, organizations tend to
focus on what is captured in
databases, otherwise known as
structured data. This was all well and
good a decade or two ago when
unstructured data (disorganized
images, disparate reports, POs,
PDFs, etc.) was at fairly manageable
levels. That’s no longer the case.
Today, there is more
information than ever before.
Organizations have to deal with an
avalanche of data, growing at an
exponential rate. In fact, it’s growing
faster than anyone’s ability to
manage it. That’s why you need to
expand your focus beyond
structured forms of information to
include all of your organization’s
data.
Unknown Data
Leads to Risk
Like many sectors, the nuclear
industry has unique and different
data sources across many lines of
the business. Depending on what
data is created, information could
pertain to anything - from manually
collected daily system reports to
advanced personal medical records
documenting radiation and exposure
levels. And this information could
be housed in multiple locations, like
databases, on desktops, in individual
file systems, or a wide range of
hybrid documentation models
cobbled together from legacy
content management systems. At the
end of the day, if you don’t know
where your data is located, you can’t
know what it contains, and this
opens you up to undue risk.
And while it might be tempting
to disregard much unknown data as
not worth your time or effort (if
information doesn’t have strict
processes surrounding it, can it really
be important?), the opposite could
not be more true. This is because, as
a key asset, data is a window into
your systems and processes. When it
is understood, connected and
enriched, it can transform your
business.
The Dangers of Living
in the Dark
Unknown, misfiled or hard-tolocate
documents are often
considered dark data, which can
loom ominously over organizations.
If exposed, this dark data could lead
to legal or financial liability,
depending on jurisdictional
Continued on next page.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 13

Continued from previous page.
mandates or regulatory audit
requests. Dark data is also a security
risk for organizations from a data
breach perspective. According to
multiple estimates, as much as 90%
of an organization’s data is
unstructured, unknown or dark. This
jaw-dropping number begs the
question: how much of that
information could contain
proprietary or sensitive information?
If you cannot locate or manage that
data, is it secure?
The simple truth is, it’s not. At
the end of the day your employees
are human, and humans make
mistakes. Even with the best laid
content management plans, nothing
is foolproof. Whether it be improper
filing or any other innocuous,
relatable error, dark data has the
potential to adversely affect the
bottom line of your organization.
But there is an upside to dark data.
Connection Leads to Insight
Hidden in the dark is an amazing
opportunity to unlock and utilize
business-critical insights. By crawling
and connecting your dark,
unstructured data and mapping it to
your structured information, another
level of understanding is revealed.
This complete picture of your
information allows you to make truly
informed decisions to manage assets,
people, systems, processes, and
resources more efficiently. By
mapping all of your data - structured
and unstructured - the entire picture
of your data ecosystem comes into
focus, empowering you with
accurate information to take action.
Some may argue that you have
all the tools necessary to unlock
these insights already, through
localized ECMs or other content
management solutions. However, no
ECM contains all of your data. To
achieve complete data
understanding, we need to rethink
our legacy approaches. Crawling and
mapping information where it lives
reduces the potential for error and
allows you to gather crucial insights
with minimal effort.
It’s time to think differently
to leverage data to reveal
needed insights, protect
your business, meet
compliance standards, and
drive growth.
It’s time to think differently to
leverage data to reveal needed
insights, protect your business, meet
compliance standards, and drive
growth. Creative, low-risk, and
transformative solutions exist, now is
the time to connect your data to
address whatever organizational
challenges you face.
As data experts, Shinydocs is here to
help. Our experienced and knowledgeable
team is rethinking how data is used to drive
real business results. Through our versatile
solutions, we connect all of your information
so you can make more efficient and
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you with a comprehensive understanding of
your data, empowering you to tackle any
data challenge with confidence. By
rethinking how data and documents are
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If you are ready to connect your data
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14 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

ANSI/NIRMA CM 1.0 – Guidelines for Configuration Management for
Nuclear Facilities
• 2021 Revision story:
o Revised 2015 version which reaffirmed 2007 Revision
o Scope of revision focused on:
§ Incorporating lessons learned
§ Updated technology and information management elements
§ Adding examples of operating plant practices for implementing CM principles
o
o
Added multiple Appendices to address specific topics, e.g.:
§ Appendix A - CM Process Model and Equilibrium Restoration
§ Appendix B - Five Functional Areas of Configuration Management
§ Appendix C - Importance of Managing Margins
§ Appendix D – Reviewing The 3-Ball Model - Design & Licensing
Requirements
§ Appendix E – Corrective Action Program
§ Appendix F – Expanded Guidance on Implementation of CM Program
Consensus Body had representatives from:
§ Nuclear Utilities
§ NSSS Vendors
§ A/E
§ Industry Interest Groups:
• INPO
• CMBG
o All ballots were Approved with no Objections
o Approval from ANSI in June 2021
o Comments from Consensus Body members incorporated into final publication
o Published for purchase in January 2022:
§ NIRMA Website
§ ANSI webstore
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 15

From the CRM
The ICRM Strategic Alliance Committee (SAC), Building
Partnerships That Create Long-Term Sustainability for
the Institute
By Rae Lynn Haliday, MBA, CRM
T
he primary mission of the
Institute of Certified Records
Managers (ICRM) is to certify
Records and Information
Management (RIM) professionals as
Certified Records Managers (CRMs)
and Certified Records Analysts
(CRAs) and to administer a
certification maintenance program
that ensures its members remain
current in this dynamic field.
The ICRM serves as an
international certifying body for
(RIM) professionals and:
• The Nuclear Information and
Records Management
Association (NIRMA) Nuclear
Specialist;
• The CRM/Federal Specialist;
• Academic partnerships (see list
below) and;
• Provides the means for existing
CRM members to obtain the
Certified Information
Governance Officer (CIGO)
designation at a discount and
with maintenance and dues
covered under the Institute.
The ICRM Strategic Alliance
Committee (SAC) was created in
2015, currently has nine (9)
members, and is empowered by the
Board of Regents to develop
partnerships that facilitate the
Institute’s primary strategic goals:
• Increase membership;
• Increase revenue;
• Increase relevance
• Improve business processes
The core activities managed
through SAC include developing and
proposing strategic alliances for
approval by the Board of Regents;
partner relations including leveraging
and evaluating existing partnership
programs, and managing the
Institute’s participation in
conferences and events; and
oversight for the ICRM Exam Prep
Workshop Series including partner
agreements, scheduling, facilitation,
speaker recruitment, registration and
budgeting.
Strategic alliances with associations
in the RIM and Information
Governance (IG) community
ensures that practitioners are aware
of and have access to resources like
professional certification, to
streamline that path for them
through partnerships as well as
provide access to ICRM exam prep
sessions and pre-approvals for
activities that meet ICRM continuing
education requirements. Greater
awareness of RIM and IG across a
global audience has occurred
through ICRM’s academic and
professional partnerships.
ICRM RIM Partners
• ARMA International
• CIGO Association (CIGOA)
• Digital Government
Institute (DGI)
• National Association of
Government Archives and
Records
Administrators (NAGARA)
• Nuclear Information and
Records Management
Association (NIRMA)
• Access Information
• MER National Conference on
Managing Electronic Records
Academic partnerships build
bridges between RIM centric degree
programs and certification. The core
foundation and mission of ICRM
academic partnerships is to develop a
pipeline of educated and certified
practitioners for the continued
advancement and long-term
sustainability of the Institute and the
RIM profession.
ICRM Academic Partners
• Long Island University, Palmer
School of Library and
Information Science (LIU Post)
• Louisiana State University (LSU
Online)
• San Jose State University School
of Information (SJSU iSchool)
• St. John's University Division of
Library & Information Science
• University of Toronto School of
Continuing Studies (SCS)
• University of Texas at Austin
ICRM is proud to collaborate with
academic institutions providing
programs that support the RIM
community and its advancement.
16 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

The Institute
is committed
to assisting
graduates
entering the
RIM
profession
through
accredited
academic
programs by
providing
partnership
credits
towards
ICRM
certification
where
programs align
with the
ICRM outline. For graduates who are already certified,
the partnership provides for pre-approval of RIM
courses to help meet continuing education requirements
for ICRM designations. SAC has a current strategic goal
of deploying a minimum of three new academic
partnerships annually.
The global pandemic predicated the ability as an
organization to be nimble and prepared to make swift
changes to current business processes in order to remain
accessible and valuable to existing members and
candidates and to reach new audiences.
ICRM Virtual Exam Prep Workshop Series
In 2020, SAC hosted the Institute’s first ICRM Virtual
Exam Prep Workshop Series in conjunction with the
MER Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The number of
attendees was impressive and provided for a very
efficient path to reach current candidates as well as
prospects. SAC spent the remainder of the year
perfecting the virtual process, and preparing for the
deployment of the Institute’s Virtual Exam Prep
Workshop Series in 2021. The ICRM exam prep
process was re-imagined for the virtual environment
with a focus on diversity, inclusion and greater
accessibility at a lower price point. The virtual delivery
opened up more opportunities for ICRM members to
serve as presenters.
In 2021, SAC hosted ten (10) Virtual Exam Prep
Workshop Series; all but one included a strategic
marketing partner under a 50/50 profit share agreement.
235 candidates and prospects attended one or more
Series; and profit share paid to the Institute’s partners
for marketing support totaled $19,958.79.
Net income generated in 2021 through SAC’s missionbased
activities aligning to ICRM strategic goals across
all revenue centers (partner credits and discounts,
academic & specialty member’s exam and exam prep
fees and first year of dues) totaled $37, 204.59, and
supports operational excellence and reinvesting revenue
to improve the ICRM candidate and member experience.
Please contact Rae Haliday, MBA, CRM/CIGO at
rhaliday4572@gmail.com or by phone at (314) 799-5132
if you have any questions! We look forward to hosting
an ICRM Virtual Exam Prep Workshop Series with
NIRMA, August 8-10, 2022:
Click here to register for the ICRM Virtual
Exam Prep Workshop Series with NIRMA.
Click here to visit the ICRM Website Strategic
Alliance page.
Click here to visit the Exam Prep Programs
page.
Click here to visit the 2021 Annual Business
Meeting Recording.
Click here to view ICRM Announcements.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 17

A Retrospective on Information Management
in Nuclear Power
i
am continuing with my multi-part series on the
fundamentals of electronic records in the nuclear industry.
In the last issue, I discussed electronic records
authentication. This time, I’ll speak to the subject of
electronic records storage.
In 1983, a young engineer wandered into the local
Apple store, intrigued with this “home computer buzz”.
Sure, he knew something about computers, having done
FORTRAN programming for engineering classes while
in college. What he knew in those days was that one had
to “punch cards”, put together “run decks”, and make
sure you had the right “job control language” that fed
some beast in the backroom. It was such a slogging
process. But, now, here was this new technology that
not only made the computer small, but it could actually
come into the house!
His eyes roved around the
various display tables and shelves,
wondering what “RAM”,
“APPLICATIONS”, “FLOPPY
DRIVES” meant. That day, he placed an order for an
Apple IIe – computer
(keyboard part of the
computer box!), monitor, and
two floppy drives, each
capable of handling 360
kilobytes (K) of information.
Apple IIe computer
He was blown away! Imagine,
being able to run an application
on one drive and save to another
drive. He could write a SEVENTY-TWO PAGE
resume and store it all on one floppy disk. He thought,
“No way am I going to have a resume that long, so this
is really cool.” Later, he bought VisiCalc (yes, naively
off the shelf, and not pirated), and became smitten with
this new technology.
Since the dawn of the computing age, we have seen:
• IBM 350 RAMAC magnetic disk system
(random access memory accounting; 5 Mb) –
1956
By Eugene Y. Yang,
Principal Consultant
KISMET Consulting, Inc.
1954 IBM 350
RAMAC, capable of
storing 5 Mb
• 9 track tape
(IBM 360
System; 22.5M –
175 Mb) – 1964
• 8-inch
floppies (word
processing systems; 80K) – ca
1971
• 5.25-inch floppies (Apple and
early IBM PCs; 360K, 720K, 1.2M) – ca 1982
• 3.5-inch floppies (720K-1.44M) – ca 1987
• Bernoulli Box cartridges (10 Mb-230 Mb) – ca
1980’s
• 12-inch optical discs (2.6 Gb)
– ca 1976
• Optical Disk Storage and
Retrieval (OSAR; up to 64 12
-inch optical disks) – ca 1982
• Compact Disc-Recordable
(CD-R; 700 Mb) – ca 1988
• Digital Versatile Disk (DVD;
4.7Gb-17Gb) – ca 1996
Plasmon Optical
Storage Drive,
OSAR
• Universal Serial Bus Flash Drive (USB drive;
2Gb-2Tb) – ca 2000
• Fixed Content Storage (think Centera/NetApps;
magnetic; 7Tb-30Tb) – ca 2000
• Network Access System (NAS; using 2T to 6T
storage devices; on) – ca 1990
And “The Future”? Petabytes (1000 Gb), Exabytes
(1000 Tb) and Zettabytes (1000 Exabytes), oh my! Just
to put it into context – the current world storage usage
is estimated to be 295 billion gigabytes…if you stacked
CDs on top of one another, the stack would extend out
to the moon. Storage also does not have to be “onpremise”;
companies are taking their data and content
to the cloud, where there is virtually unlimited storage
(as long as you’re willing to pay for it!).
18 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

Essentially, the explosion in storage occurred when
we shifted from storing structured data (data tables,
databases) to storing document images (through
scanning) to now storing and streaming high-definition
digital movies, 3-D objects, and virtual reality. And the
nuclear industry has been in the midst of this
revolution.
In the 1980’s, South Texas Project made the
decision that they would store, to the extent possible, all
of their quality records in electronic format. They
adopted the FileNet Imaging System, which used 12-
inch optical disk platters arranged in an optical jukebox
(OSAR). One of the primary reasons for adopting this
technology was that optical disks were write-once, readmany-times;
the laser that wrote into the disk literally
burned the 0’s and 1’s into the platter, thus assuring the
burned-in document was immutable. In 1988, USNRC
allowed the use of optical disk storage technology as a
viable medium to store quality assurance records for
applicable long-term retentions – Generic Letter (GL)
88-18, “Plant Record Storage on Optical Disks.” A key
aspect of this guidance was establishing the quality
assurance and control of the use the technology by
citing eight major criteria that had to be met.
This was a significant step forward, as the industry
primarily was still paper-based, with many plants
transitioning to electronic indexing and using microfilm,
aperture cards, and microfiche. Imaging systems back
in those days were a high capital cost, with the jukebox
being a considerable portion of that cost. Plants
recognized the costs savings in search, access, retrieval,
viewing, and printing, but were daunted by the high
cost. About the time GL 88-18 was issued, the Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI) convened a Nuclear
Construction Issues Group (NCIG-10) to better
understand the growing trend toward storing,
maintaining, and retrieving electronic quality assurance
records. A document was produced (May 1989) that
presented guidelines and supporting information for the
creation, storage, retrieval, control and approval of
quality records in electronic media for nuclear facilities.
The intriguing part of the NCIG work was that
electronic media was not limited to optical disks, but
was opened to the notion of using “standard” magnetic
disk equipment, as long as the appropriate assurances
and controls were also in place. This work, the criteria
established in GL 88-18, and operating experience from
plants, were the foundational seeds that the NIRMA
TGs on managing electronic records were developed. I
have expounded on these TGs previously, so I urge you
to look them up to find out more!
I am currently working with a plant where storage
will be in the cloud. The current “footprint” is nearly
3Tb of content – current revisions, past revisions, and
records. And it all has to be backed up, so double the
storage needs. And…this is just a single unit plant
that’s been in operation for 30 years. Think about fleet
storage (e.g., Constellation, Southern Nuclear, TVA)
and the need to meet the dual storage requirements.
And think about renewals of operating licenses that
extend the operability of a facility for another 20 years.
That. Is. A lot. Of. Storage!
Ultimately, quality assurance records stored on
electronic media need to have the rigor of standard,
consistent, proceduralized processes, to comply with
nuclear quality assurance regulations and nuclear
insurance long-term retentions. It’s incumbent upon
YOU as the nuclear information manager to ensure
these practices are in place. As we say in NIRMA, “IM
has the rules, IT has the tools.”
Eugene has been a member of NIRMA for
nearly 35 years. At the time he joined,
NIRMA had only been in existence for 11
years. He would love to hear about stories and
anecdotes from others, so please email him at
eugene.yang@kismetconsulting.com.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 19

Professional Development
Business Unit (PDBU) News
Lou Rofrano, PDBU Director
“Be A Student of the BuSineSS”
O
ne of the best pieces of
advice I received early in
my career and professional
development came from my
first manager in healthcare sales. I
was recently hired and about to
enter into the business of calling on
healthcare professionals. This advice
has stayed with me my entire life
and was never more important than
now as I work with the members of
NIRMA and people in the nuclear
industry. Most of us get some kind
of training when we start in a new
role. It might be a formal training
program with very specific metrics
for success or less formal “learn as
you go” on-the-job training. No
matter which method you
encounter, being trained to do the
specifics of a job is only the
beginning of professionalism.
The training program that I
attended was very rigorous,
structured, and with the knowledge
that if you did not meet a certain
performance level in both written
and presentation skills you would
“wash-out” and go home without a
job. Why was it so tough you ask? It
was made clear to us that the
toughness of the class was to ensure
we knew what we were talking
about. After all, we were talking to
caregivers and minimally, if we did
not know what we were talking
about, they would lose respect for
us. Worst case a patient could die if
we gave out the wrong information.
In the nuclear industry, it seems
to be you have to be right.
Inspections have to be right.
Records have to be right, accurate,
and knowledge has to be correct.
Why you ask? Simple. This is a
heavily regulated industry and if you
are wrong, you can lose the respect
of your peers and your actions can
result in significant fines for noncompliance.
Further, the general
public’s and employees’ lives and
health could be affected.
What are you doing
actively to make you
better at what you
do? What investments
are you making
in yourself?
So, my manager’s point was that
your entry level training was not
enough to be “sure.” His advice was
to “Be a student of the business.”
Learn everything you can about the
business you are in. Read journals,
take CEUs when appropriate and
available. Connect with industry
professionals and learn from them.
Develop formal and informal
mentor relationships with people in
the industry. It has been said that
much of your success is owed to the
five closest people you surround
yourself with. The same can be said
in your career. We need to connect
with solid, knowledgeable people
who can help you elevate your
performance and knowledge level.
What are you doing actively to make
you better at what you do? What
investments are you making in
yourself? One of the primary
reasons we created the Mentor
Program is to give you formal access
to the best among the industry.
NIRMA and ICRM are working
closely to provide you a pathway to
become certified in your business.
These initials after your name let
other people in your industry know
that you are serious about your
knowledge and your desire to be
among the best. Do those
certifications earn you an immediate
promotion? Probably not
immediately, but they help you
position yourself as a future leader
and certified professional. We all
need to develop our knowledge and
demonstrate that we are a “Student
of the Business”.
Ready to take action?
NIRMA is excited to partner
with the Institute of Certified
Records Managers (ICRM) to bring
professional development
opportunities directly to its
members!
The ICRM VIRTUAL Exam
Prep Workshop Series will be held
the week following the 2022
NIRMA Symposium. The format
for the series includes two four-hour
20 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

(half-day) workshops for CRA and CRM. Each half
day is offered for $129 per person.
ICRM-led VIRTUAL Exam Prep Workshop
series in partnership with Nuclear
Information and Records Management
Association (NIRMA) - August 8-10, 2022 -
Registration is now open!
TO REGISTER:
Please contact Rae Lynn Haliday, CRM, Chair/ICRM
Strategic Alliance Committee (SAC) at
rhaliday4572@gmail.com or (314) 799-5132
if you have any questions on how to
take advantage of these great opportunities.
Not a Member of
NIRMA?
join today!
The ICRM will also host a booth
at the 2022 NIRMA Symposium,
August 1-3, 2022.
For the most up-to-date information and symposium
registration, please click here visit NIRMA’s website.
2022 NIRMA Symposium,
August 1-3, 2022
Held at the
JW Marriott Resort and Spa
Las Vegas, Nevada
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 21

MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING
(M&M) Business Unit News
e are less than six
w
months away from the
2022 NIRMA
Symposium. Time to
start really thinking about
attending the symposium.
There are great ways to enjoy
and participate in the learning
and fun.
Once again, we have lined
up some amazing Keynote
speakers for this coming
Symposium. In the coming
months, we will be sharing
more details about topics. You
and your work colleagues are
going to want to hear these
presentations … which leads us
to the next topic.
NIRMA is offering a group
discount when you register for
the Symposium early. Purchase
three (3) registrations from the same
company, and all subsequent
registrations are $700. The
additional employees need not be
Kathi Cole, CRM
M&MBU Director
part of the Records
Management organization.
They can be employees
from any of the
organizations within the
same company.
We are looking for new
members to help come up
with new ideas to bring new
members to NIRMA as well
as new ideas of how to
share everyone’s expertise
with the membership.
M&MBU meets the first
Wednesday every month for
one hour at 12:00 PM CT.
Please consider joining
M&MBU. We are a fun
group to work with.
For additional
information or questions on
anything mentioned above,
please contact nirma@nirma.org.
NIRMA’s Financial Holdings
as of February 24, 2022
Lona Smith
NIRMA Treasurer
Checking Account $22,663.31
Debit Account $ 349.55
Investment Account $90,799.22
22 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA), the nation’s largest public
power energy provider, announced
that it is establishing a New Nuclear
Program. This initiative
explores advanced nuclear options
as an essential component of TVA’s
decarbonization efforts.
The announcement comes at a
time when the United States, as well
as public and private
sectors worldwide, have made bold,
necessary commitments to reduce
carbon emissions. This process can
be accelerated with always-on,
carbon-free nuclear energy, which is
why TVA is interested in building
new nuclear to complement
intermittent renewable generation.
TVA currently operates three
nuclear power plants, Browns Ferry,
Sequoyah, and Watts Bar, which
power more than 4.5 million homes
and businesses. Right now,
nuclear provides more electricity to
the people of Tennessee than any
other energy source. This nuclear
electricity generation has allowed
TVA to reduce the state’s reliance
on coal, thereby reducing carbon
emissions while continuing to
provide reliable, affordable power.
Tennessee Governor Bill
Lee acknowledged the importance
of nuclear in his State of the State
speech, delivered in late January. He
discussed his recent visit to TVA’s
Watts Bar facility, where he
witnessed firsthand how nuclear
power keeps the grid dependable
when the weather is not.
“For decades, East Tennessee has
been home to some of the best kept
secrets in nuclear energy and
American innovation,” he said.
He noted that the state is working
directly with TVA to formalize a
long-term nuclear strategy because
“nuclear power is a clean energy that
actually works for the private
sector.”
To reach its goal of net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050, TVA is
committed to building out its clean
energy generation. In the
announcement, the utility said that
developing a roadmap for advanced
Photo Credit: Tennessee Valley Authority
nuclear is a part of its plan to
prioritize innovative methods of
reducing carbon emissions.
“We cannot meet the energy
needs of tomorrow by making small
changes in today’s power system,”
said Jeff Lyash, TVA president and
chief executive officer. “We must
work toward a net-zero carbon
future today at a programmatic level
and, combined with the efforts
we’ve already undertaken over the
past few years, that is what TVA’s
New Nuclear Program enables us to
do.”
With the Board’s approval, the
program will provide up to $200
million to examine advanced reactor
technologies for deployment at the
Clinch River Site, which TVA has
obtained the first early site
permit for, as well as other potential
locations.
Continued on next page.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 23

Continued from previous page.
Designs that are under
evaluation for the Clinch River Site
include both light water and nonlight
water reactors. TVA is
exploring GE Hitachi’s BWRX-
300 light water design that could
leverage the existing nuclear supply
chain.
TVA acknowledges that any
first of its kind technology carries
certain obstacles that are best
handled through partnerships,
which is why they will be
collaborating with other entities to
optimize solutions and advance
new climate technologies.
TVA operates one of the
largest, most diverse generating
portfolios in the nation. As an
industry leader in nuclear energy,
TVA is committed to providing
not only clean, but also affordable,
reliable, and resilient electricity—
and to continue to do this, they’re
looking to new nuclear.
Read full article here.
Washington, D.C.—The
following statement can be
attributed to Maria Korsnick,
president and chief executive officer
of NEI:
“NEI applauds the West Virginia
legislature and governor for lifting a
decades-long ban on nuclear carbon
-free power plants in the state. The
forward-thinking decision is part of
a national trend to recognize the
role of reliable, carbon-free nuclear
power in our energy transition.
Removing antiquated policies like
moratoriums on nuclear plant
construction serves as a
steppingstone toward a
decarbonized future and ensures a
reliable and cost-effective energy
transition that creates good-paying,
long-term jobs.
With more fossil fuel plants
retiring, new nuclear technologies
are more essential than ever to
preserve jobs and provide a supply
of always-on carbon-free power.
The passage of this bill alongside
the state’s recent resolution on grid
stability opens the door for
advanced nuclear to be the
backbone of the energy grid for
West Virginia.”
Read full article here.
And now we are on YouTube!
24 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

High Costs, Proliferation
Concerns Feed Doubt Over Waste
Recycling
Globally, close to 400,000 tons of
SNF has been produced from civil
nuclear power plants, of which just
under a third has been reprocessed,
while current commercial
reprocessing capacity is around just
2,000 tons a year via a handful of
plants in France, Russia, Britain,
India, and, possibly by 2024, Japan.
SNF is highly radioactive, contains
heavy metals that could be used in a
weapon under the right
circumstances, and will not lose its
radioactivity for at least hundreds, if
not thousands, of years.
Proponents point out that it is also
(mostly) accounted for, wellcontained
and protected and, while
today’s technology may not quite
hold the solution to what to do with
the waste, that will change with
advanced reactors in development.
“If you burnt the existing levels of
spent nuclear fuel we have sitting at
nuclear sites, which is technically
straightforward with a fast reactor,
then there’s about 200 years of
energy for the United States,” says
Steven Curtis, an independent
speaker on nuclear power and the
recycling of spent nuclear fuel with
decades of experience working at the
U.S. Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection Agency.
Most SNF produced sits
in storage in barrels and dry casks
The Areva Nuclear plant for the treatment
of nuclear waste at La Hague, near
Cherbourg, western France (Source:
Reuters/Benoit Tessier)
and industry and governments have
found just two ways to deal with it;
recycle and use again or bury it deep
underground.
Neither option is popular with
the public.
In the United States, where there
is about 86,000 tons of SNF stored
on-site at 75 operating or shutdown
power plants in 33 states, of those
who believe in nuclear power, less
than half support keeping spent fuel
within 50 miles of their own
communities, according to a
Morning Consult poll.
Of the three reprocessing plants to
have been built in the United States,
none are currently operating, and
Curtis says state leaders aren't willing
to take the SNF.
“If I could convince a governor to
accept used nuclear fuel with the
proviso that they would recycle it in
fast reactors, that would unlock
decades of economic benefit in the
$1 trillion clean energy business in
the United States, all with domestic
supply,” Curtis says.
The Congressional Nuclear Waste
Fund, financed largely from fees
tacked on to household electricity
bills and worth an estimated $45
billion, has sat unused ever since the
U.S. Department of Energy ended it
efforts to license a repository at
Yucca Mountain in 2010.
This fund alone could help jump
start a private industry solution,
Curtis says.
An expensive mix
The new generation of reactor
developers say they have found the
solution to a safe, easy, and cheap
recycling of SNF but today the
available options produce a highly
radioactive mix that is potentially
vulnerable to abuse from would-be
weapons makers and is vastly more
expensive than either freshly mined
uranium or deep geological
repositories (DGPs).
“For nuclear energy to be a part of
the climate change solution, you
need it to be less costly than it has
been, it needs to be easier to site
than it has been, you need the public
to be confident that it’s safe and
secure from terrorism, and that it
won’t contribute to nuclear
Continued on next page.
Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Spring 2022 25

Continued from previous page.
High Costs, Proliferation Concerns Feed
Doubt Over Waste Recycling
World commercial reprocessing capacity
proliferation,” says Professor of the Practice of
Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy at
Harvard Kennedy School Matthew Bunn.
“Reprocessing points in the wrong direction of every
one of those criteria.”
Currently, the principal method of reprocessing is
called PUREX (plutonium uranium reduction
extraction) to produce Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel,
manufactured from plutonium taken from SNF and
mixed with depleted uranium.
This is expensive, however.
One kilogram of MOX, including reprocessing of
the waste, the fabrication process, and the depleted
uranium, costs around six times that of one kilogram
of low enriched uranium, according to a study by Bunn
and others, ‘The Economics of Reprocessing and
Recycling vs. Direct Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel.’
“For equal cost, uranium would have to get far more
expensive, or reprocessing would have to get far
cheaper,” the report said.
Reprocessing also fared badly against DGRs, which
would still be needed anyway.
It costs an estimated $600/kg to store and then
dispose of spent fuel in a repository deep
underground, compared to $2,200/kg to reprocess,
including $200/kg to dispose of the high-level waste
that is still left over after recycling.
“It’s important to remember that if you generate a
certain amount of nuclear energy, you’re left with a
certain amount of fission products. You’re going to
need nuclear waste repositories regardless of whether
you reprocess or you don’t,” Bunn said.
(Source: World Nuclear Association)
Cheap and plentiful fuel
Recycling SNF, as the French do through a 10-yearlong
production cycle, does not aim to address a lack
of basic fuel for nuclear reactors which is relatively
inexpensive and plentiful.
Uranium can be found naturally in the earth’s crust
and seawater, is relatively common, and less than a
tenth of a nuclear power plants’ entire cost comes
from fuel.
“While it could, in principle, be recycled many times,
the French recycle this material only once because it
gets harder and harder to do technically after the first
time. The reason they do this is to reduce the volume
of used nuclear fuel. It does not have a strong effect
on the theoretical total toxicity of the material,” says
Principle Nuclear Engineer at Argonne National
Laboratory Roger Blomquist.
While the French used the PUREX method, in
which SNF is first dissolved in hot nitric acid, Argonne
has been developing a more compact and economical
method known as pyro-processing for the lab’s integral
fast reactor (IFR), the EBR-II.
Article reprinted with permission of Reuters Events
Nuclear. Read full article here.
26 Spring 2022 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

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