The Tribal Caucus consists of members of 15 active tribes that meet semi-annually to plan and discuss topics relevant for the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF). NTSF is the mechanism through which the Department of Energy (DOE) communicates at a national level with tribes and states about the shipments of radioactive waste and materials.
NTSF meetings focus on discussing packaging and transportation, emergency management, security, inspection and enforcement, and radiation protection. On Jan. 26-27, 2016 the Tribal Caucus convened at the Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel in Palm Springs, California for its mid-year meeting. The Tribal Caucus will convene again on June 6-9, 2016 during the NTSF Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Tribal Executive Session
Tribal Caucus participants hosted a closed session for members only.
Facilitated by Richard Arnold, Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations
NTSF Structure - Group Mission, Objectives and Priorities
Discussion of the overview of NTSF organizational structure, which is headed by a DOE chair and includes a planning committee to monitor progress made by DOE, ad hoc working groups to work on specific tasks, membership (open to only tribal and state officers) and other stakeholders (e.g., labor, industry).
Michael Wangler, DOE Office of Environmental Management | Presentation
Overview of Web Resources
NTSF Wikisite: The NTSF Wikisite is a private site that is free to join. The site houses information for NTSF including important documents and upcoming activities.
Lisa Janairo, NTSF Wikisite, CSG-Midwest
CURIE: CURIE website stores documents created for DOE Environmental Management (EM).
Erica Bickford,CURIE, DOE Office of Nuclear Energy
START Program: START estimates routes from the origin to destination for routing.
Erica Bickford, CURIE, DOE Office of Nuclear Energy
WebTRAGIS Program: WebTRAGIS is a browser based GIS tool for modeling transportation routing of HAZMAT shipments.
Michael Wangler, WebTRAGIS, Program, DOE Office of Environmental Management | Presentation
Updates from Ad Hoc Working Groups
Updates from representatives NTSF Ad Hoc Working Groups, which are assigned to work on specific tasks and developing needs
Erica Bickford, DOE Office of Nuclear Energy
Information/Communication WG, Uldis Vanags, CSG-Northeast
Planning Committee, Neil Weber, Pueblo de San Ildefonso
Transportation Planning WG, Heather Westra, Prairie Island Indian Community
Management Plan WG, Ellen Edge, Office of Environmental Management | Presentation
Transportation Practices WG, Michael Wangler, DOE Office of Environmental Management | Presentation
180(c) WG (full session later in the day).
Update on Tribal 101 Webinar
Prairie Island Indian Community is in the process of creating a webinar providing DOE and other participants a basic foundation and understanding for working with tribal members.
Heather Westra, Prairie Island Indian Community
Legislative Update on Nuclear Power and Transportation
Thirteen States currently have bans or restrictions on the construction of nuclear facilities.
Jim Reed, NCSL
Update from SRG Meetings
The state regional groups of the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) provided updates on their most recent meetings and group activities.
Lisa Janairo, CSG- Midwest
Uldis Vanags, CSG- Northeast
Jim Williams, Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB)
Chris Wells, Southern States Energy Board (SSEB)
180c Exercise
A discussion of DOE funding that will be made available to help tribes and states prepare for the shipments of spent nuclear fuel. An overview of the results from tribal and state participation in an exercise to determine capacity in planning, assessment, and training. The exercise will be finalized at the June 2016 NTSF meeting.
Tribal Experience
Heather Westra, Prairie Island Indian Community
Rob Burnside, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
DOE Update
Erica Bickford, DOE Office of Nuclear Energy | Presentation
State Perspective
Lisa Janairo, CSG-Midwest
NRC Updates on Tribal Protocol and Tribal Policy Statements, and Advanced Notification Protocol
An overview of the Tribal Protocol, published in 2008 and 2014, as well as the Tribal Policy Statement and Tribal Protocol Manual, both which NRC is currently in the process of considering and responding to public comments.
An overview of the NRC Advanced Notification required for shipments of irradiated reactor fuel. The NRC will be present at the NTSF Annual Meeting June 7-9 in Orlando, Florida to conduct training for relevant tribal officials.
Paul Michalak, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission | Combined Presentation
David Pstrak, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Updates from DOE
Jay Jones, DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, provided updates on DOE’s recent Federal Register Notice focused on consent-based siting (public comments due June 15, 2016), as well as DOE-NE Fiscal Year 2016 objectives and budget. | Presentation
Albert Petrasek, DOE Office of Environmental Management, provided general updates on the status of DOE-EM, including objectives, budget considerations, and government-to-government relationships.
Overview of the Nearby San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
Steve Maheras, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, provided information on the purpose and information obtained from visits to shutdown nuclear sites. | Presentation
Richard Arnold, Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations, expanded on the purpose of the shutdown site visits from a tribal perspective. Visiting these shutdown sites helps to identify tribes that would be impacted within a 100-mile radius.
Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program (TEPP) Update
Ellen Edge, Office of Environmental Management, provided updates on DOE’s Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program and the current and future training efforts taking place in the nine DOE regions as well as potential to expand to tribes directly. | No Presentation.
Moving Forward
Richard Arnold, Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations, wrapped up the Tribal Caucus meeting summarizing takeaways and action items for the caucus to consider moving forward. The Tribal Caucus will reconvene on June 6in Orlando, Fla., as part of the Annual NTSF Meeting. | No Presentation.
Joint Tribal Caucus/NETWG Lunch
Tribal Caucus and NETWG participants joined for a working lunch, with a presentation from Chris Deschene.
Presentation on DOE National Tribal Energy Summit
Chris Deschene, director of the Office of Indian Energy, presented an overview of the 2015 Tribal Energy Summit hosted by DOE - Office of Indian Energy in Washington, D.C.