BLUE RIBBON WASTE PANEL LOOKS AT REVISIONS TO SITING RECOMMENDATIONS

Gearing up to submit its final recommendations on nuclear waste disposal to the Department of Energy in January, the Administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future proposed several potential revisions to its draft proposal at a meeting in Washington, D.C., Friday. Key potential updates to the draft report released in July include clarification on how to develop a consent-based approach to siting a nuclear waste facility, a central theme in the panel’s recommendations. Panel members said that a state hosting a site should be willing to enter into a legally binding agreement, and that part of the negotiation should include a time period at which a host state or tribe can no longer opt out of the process. That must expire “no later than the time when a license application for the repository is submitted,” according to a presentation by the BRC’s disposal subcommittee. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act should also be revised to allow substantial benefits to local communities and governments hosting a facility, which would include payments for economic development and project impact mitigation. The panel also proposed that Congress should take 15 to 20 years to attempt a consent-based siting approach before passing any judgment on whether or not the method can be effective.