Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
9/5/2014
SUMMERLIN, Nev.—While a working group of officials from the state of Nevada and the Department of Energy put together for a controversial batch of uranium-233 has made significant progress, according to officials, nearly a year after the effort was launched there is no timeline yet as to when a decision will be made on potential shipments of the material to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal. Nevada and DOE set up the working group in late 2013 after DOE’s plans to dispose of the material at NNSS were met with significant political opposition in the state. “While significant progress has been made, and I genuinely mean that, no final decisions on that project have been made,” Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Director Leo Drozdoff said at this year’s RadWaste Summit, held here this week.
In question are 403 canisters of Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project (CEUSP) material in DOE’s inventory of uranium-233 being stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Building 3019. Due to high costs, in 2011 DOE switched its plans from downblending the entire store of uranium-233 at ORNL for disposition to an approach of shipping about half the stockpile to the Nevada National Security Site for direct disposal, including the CEUSP material. DOE had originally planned to complete the first CEUSP shipments in 2013. The delays due to the political concerns have led to increased costs for the Department—security and storage costs for the material are estimated to add up to about $2.6 million per month.
No Schedule for Resolution
While DOE has not pursued any other options for the material, Nevada has no schedule yet for reaching a resolution on disposal of the material. “I don’t know is the short answer,” Drozdoff said when asked. “The final decision is going to happen when it happens. But there genuinely are more meaningful discussions that have to take place, of having a better idea of what the future holds, and we have these quarterly meetings that kind of hold everybody’s feet to the fire to not let the time frame get away from us.”
As the costs add up for DOE, officials there also have not put a timeline on a decision. “It can’t be open ended, but we are not going to short circuit the process,” Christine Gelles of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said at this week’s meeting. “We’ve worked through many of the state’s questions including the engagement with the local groups and the transportation exercises, so now it’s in the hands of Secretary [of Energy Ernest] Moniz and the governor to figure it out.”
Transportation and Larger Vision for the Site Still Discussion Points
The state hopes to continue discussing transportation of the material, as well as discussions with DOE on a larger vision for future waste disposition missions and other roles for NNSS, Drozdoff said. “When it comes to transportation as it pertains to CEUSP, largely most of the questions that we had a year ago have largely been answered. Sometimes it just takes time,” Drozdoff said. Local officials from Nye and Clark counties in Nevada raised the transportation concerns. “As the hosts they have unique questions that they wanted answered, and in fact they were good questions and they got answered. That’s what happens when you strive to do something differently. It let a little bit of sunlight into the process. It’s a good process, and the results speak for themselves,” he said.
Nevada is now trying to ensure that a longer-term process is established for discussing future missions at the site. “How do you internalize everything you’ve done and keep it for the long haul because it’s led to productive results? That’s kind of where we are right now with DOE,” Drozdoff said. “There’s certainly a feeling, if not an acknowledgement that this new endeavor has yielded enormous results. But as the most pressing need passes, we want to make sure that what brought us to the table doesn’t get lost in the years to come.”
‘They Need Us and We Need Them’
The state sees the site as much more than a disposal facility. “There’s a lot of economic activities, there’s new missions with regard to drones,” Drozdoff said. “It’s a very big deal and very exciting in this state. From the governor on down we want a very productive relationship with the Department of Energy because they need us and we need them.”
For its part, DOE believes the dialogue with Nevada has been “very productive,” according to Gelles, “at least in terms in expanding our understanding of our respective perspectives on the issues surrounding disposition of not just the CEUSP but other waste streams and the future mission of NNSS as a regional disposal facility for the Department of Energy’s radioactive low level waste streams. I think it’s important that we build upon that dialogue.”
