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As power reactors transition from an operational status to the permanently shut down and defueled condition, a significant reduction of risk to public health and safety is achieved.  These shutdown reactors remain subject to many of the same requirements as operating reactors.  Because the development of regulations for operating nuclear power plants often did not consider decommissioning, the requirements imposed on decommissioning nuclear power reactors may be inappropriate, may not be applicable, or may not align with safety significance.  The Commission has directed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff to proceed with rulemaking on decommissioning and set an objective of early 2019 for completion of this rulemaking.  The Commission also stated that this rulemaking should address:  issues discussed in SECY-00-0145, such as the graded approach to emergency preparedness; lessons learned from the plants that have already (or are currently) going through the decommissioning process; the advisability of requiring a licensee’s Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activity Report to be approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the appropriateness of maintaining the three existing options for decommissioning and the timeframes associated with those options; the appropriate role of State and local governments and non-governmental stakeholders in the decommissioning process; and any other issues deemed relevant by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff.