Changes to the legal and regulatory framework for management of Energy Department nuclear waste could save $40 billion in costs for cleanup of the DOE nuclear complex and hasten the removal of that waste from local communities, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) said in a new report.
“ECA understands this is a large change from current policy,” says the report from the nongovernmental organization that represents localities surrounding DOE environmental cleanup sites. “We have seen how the current policy has caused DOE to tread water and store this waste in our communities with no clear path forward to decrease risk, cut costs, or complete the job that DOE started over thirty (30) years ago.”
The heart of the problem, ECA said, is use of “artificial standards” in decision-making on waste management, notably classifying waste based on its point of origin instead of its characteristics and the danger it poses to human health.
ECA wants DOE to revamp its radioactive waste policy in order to open the door for some material now classified as high-level material to be treated as low-level or transuranic waste, depending on radiological traits.
The ECA paper also has much to say about the future of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The organization wants DOE to work with New Mexico on a permit change that would remove the ban on tank waste and certain high-level wastes so that additional forms of TRU waste can be disposed of at the underground repository near Carlsbad, N.M.
Congress and DOE should also loosen the purse strings for WIPP’s capital improvements, including ventilation upgrades, ECA said.
