The Energy Department has released a draft plan for a deep geological repository to permanently dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste created by the agency’s defense programs.
Specifically, DOE’s so-called Defense Waste Repository would be used for “permanent disposal of all or a portion of the [high-level waste] and [spent nuclear fuel] derived from atomic energy defense activities, research and development (R&D) activities of the DOE, or both,” according to the 50-page draft plan DOE released for public comment late Friday.
It will cost roughly $3 billion and take about 11 years just to select a site for the repository and vet the location, according to the draft plan. That is separate from the full cost of actually building the repository; DOE estimates waste disposal would begin about 20 years from the day the agency started early talks with possible host communities. The draft plan included no cost estimate for building or operating the facility, nor did it say when DOE might start searching in earnest for a host site.
The outgoing Obama administration released its draft plan for the Defense Waste Repository about five weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, whose transition team includes a number of former DOE officials who favor restarting the Yucca Mountain defense-and-commercial nuclear waste repository in Nevada the Obama administration canceled in 2010.
Much like DOE’s current plan for interim and final storage of commercial waste, the defense waste facility would be sited with consent from local communities. The central elements to the development of the facility, according to the plan, would be: the planned location process, preliminary summary schedule, and preliminary forecast of representatives expenses; the types and amounts of high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel designated for potential disposal in the facility; waste transport; and the site characteristics for permanent waste disposal.
DOE forecasts by 2048 having roughly 30,000 cubic meters of high-level waste and spent fuel from defense atomic energy and research and development operations at its Hanford, Idaho, and Savannah River sites, the report says.
The public comment period on DOE’s new draft plan runs through March 20. Those interested may submit comments online in the Federal Register.
