LOUISVILLE, KY. — The Department of Energy’s consent-based siting program for interim storage of spent fuel could take decades but the lengthy process does not appear to scare localities interested in nuclear power, attendees at Exchange Monitor’s Radwaste Summit heard Monday.
DOE has touted its program to find communities willing to host interim spent fuel storage. The most recent milestone is development of the new Atlas rail car to haul nuclear waste, Kimberly Petry, associate deputy assistant energy secretary, said during Monday’s opening session.
“We did actually just very, very recently get final approval by the American Association of Railroads,” Petry said.
But opening a spent fuel storage facility to comply with the agency’s obligation to take pent fuel from commercial power reactors won’t happen quickly, Petry said. Likewise, the United States still lacks a deep underground disposal repository to replace the canceled Yucca Mountain Project in Nevada.
Just researching and selecting one or more volunteer areas suitable for interim spent fuel storage can take years, said Sylvia Saltzstein, senior manager of nuclear fuel cycle technologies at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
That does not include the years it is likely to be needed for design and engineering and securing congressional approval, Saltzstein said. DOE is aiming for 2038 to 2040 to open the interim storage site. Some research suggested the process for a deep underground disposal site could drag out until 2070, she added.
“That’s a long time” and translates into a lot of election cycles, Saltzstein said. Disposal “is the final solution.” Consolidated interim storage is like your refrigerator: “It stores the stuff so you can use it again if you want it.”
Despite this uncertainty over spent fuel, many states are exploring construction of new, advanced nuclear plants, including microreactors, said Bruce Montgomery, director of decommissioning and used fuel at the Nuclear Energy Institute.
Graham Filler, a Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives, said he worked with Democrats on a bipartisan plan to support Holtec’s effort to revive the Palisades nuclear plant. Also a state senator in Kentucky, Danny Carroll (R) discussed efforts to attract new nuclear generation to the area near DOE’s Paducah Site in Kentucky.
Editor’s note: The fifth and sixth paragraphs were modified June 9 to correct the timeline.
