Lance Moore
RW Monitor
7/10/2015
The Department of Energy has been seeking to better understand on-the-ground conditions at shutdown plant sites as they relate to the movement of spent nuclear fuel, DOE Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy John Kotek said June 26 at a Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee meeting. As the Department moves forward with its strategy to manage the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, DOE has begun to look at the logistics of transferring the fuel from sites to potential interim storage sites for consolidated storage. DOE has prioritized moving spent fuel from shutdown plants first. “I participated in what was the 12th visit to a closed plant here just a few weeks ago in San Onofre, Calif., and got to see the team and how they worked with the local utility and/or the owner of the site to understand the development of transportation infrastructure, field handling infrastructure, or other considerations associated with ultimately moving fuel from these facilities,” Kotek said. “We are going to work with state and local tribal governments on transportation which will ultimately lead to provision of resources and training and some emergency preparedness to ensure that when the time comes, we are all prepared for fuel movement.”
As part of that preparation, DOE has begun working on generic research and development activities related to transportation. “[We] are also doing quite a bit to develop the transportation hardware, and other infrastructure that we needed to move fuel so that we are moving through the contracting process to ultimately secure licensed certified casks (rails cars, bumper cars etc),” Kotek said. Since the Nuclear Waste Policy Act prevents DOE from expending spent fuel funds for any purpose outside of Yucca Mountain, DOE is focusing its efforts on establishing infrastructure improvements in areas near plant with spent fuel. Congressional approval is needed before any concrete effort toward interim storage begins.
For DOE, though, engaging local stakeholders on spent fuel transportation has been an on-going occurrence. “Since the 1990s the Department has engaged with Tribes, states and local governments on planning for transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste,” a DOE spokesman said in an email this week. “The National Transportation Stakeholders Forum (NTSF) is the current mechanism through which DOE communicates at a national level with states, Tribes, federal agencies, and other interested stakeholders about the Department’s shipments of radioactive waste and materials. Under Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, the Department of Energy is responsible for providing technical and financial assistance for training of local public safety officials to states and Tribes through whose jurisdiction the Secretary of Energy plans to transport spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste. DOE is actively engaged in ongoing work with emergency management representatives from tribal and state governments to finalize this policy.”
