ARLINGTON, VA. — The Department of Energy should have an interim storage site for nuclear fuel within 10-to-15 years, an Office of Nuclear Energy official told the National Cleanup Workshop here Thursday.
“The Department of Energy has a trust problem; I understand that,” said Sam Brinton, deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition,” at the conference hosted by Energy Communities Alliance. “There is nothing we can do to change the past.”
But this week “we put out the first actual dollars,” Brinton said, alluding to a $16-million funding opportunity for interested communities to learn more about consent-based siting. Applications are due Dec. 19.
“We are not seeking volunteers … at this time,” Brinton said, but when we do, “more hands will go up than ever before.” The agency envisions making awards to six to eight communities over a period of about two years.
“I am lucky not to have the decades of depression,” Brinton said during a high-energy presentation at the cleanup gathering. “I was born after Yucca Mountain was decided on.”
Nuclear energy provides 20% of the electricity generation in the United States and 50% of its carbon-free power, Brinton said. The resulting waste and its multi-billion taxpayer liability must still be addressed, even if no additional reactors ever built domestically, Brinton added.
