The Department of Energy has not made any decisions regarding possible locations for interim storage of U.S. nuclear waste, DOE Secretary Rick Perry said Wednesday, one day after raising eyebrows by suggesting sites in Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas could become future homes to such facilities.
“I want to be crystal clear with this committee and with others: While there are a number of options that we’ve talked about on how to deal with these issues, no decisions have been made at this time with respect to the timing, or location for that matter, of waste storage,” Perry said in testimony to the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee on his agency’s fiscal 2018 budget request.
Appearing before the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee on Tuesday, Perry threw out three potential locations to consolidate spent fuel from commercial reactors and high-level radioactive waste while the federal government builds a permanent repository: DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and Nevada National Security Site, along with the privately operated Waste Control Specialists storage complex in West Texas.
Officials from Nevada, already gearing up to battle the Trump administration’s plan to revive licensing of the Yucca Mountain waste repository in their state, quickly lashed out, calling Perry’s comments “irresponsible,” “a total blindside,” and other unfriendly terms.
The 1992 legislation that established WIPP, where DOE stores its transuranic waste, also explicitly prohibits disposal of high-level waste and spent fuel at the underground facility.
Waste Control Specialists did file for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license for interim storage of nuclear waste, but in April asked that the NRC suspend review of the application. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled against WCS’ planned merger with EnergySolutions, raising further questions about whether it would move forward with interim storage.
Perry said he wanted to clarify that DOE does not yet have any plans for interim storage in the three states he mentioned Tuesday, and that such efforts would have to be coordinated with Congress and relevant local, state, and federal agencies. “Yesterday what I was attempting to do was convey my interest in working with Congress to bring resolution to this issue, and that’s all I was saying,” he said.
