WASHINGTON — While more than three months passed since the public comment period closed, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) is “trying to keep this conversation going” on reinterpreting what material should be deemed high-level radioactive waste (HLW) by the Department of Energy.
That was the word Wednesday from the ECA’s director of nuclear energy policy, Kara Colton, who noted the Energy Department has not said much about the issue since its public comment period closed Jan. 9.
The ECA, which represents municipalities near federal nuclear facilities, could soon issue a new report addressing “next steps” on high-level waste, Colton told the National Academies’ Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board during a meeting in Washington, D.C.
At the urging of the ECA, the nuclear contractor community, and others, the Energy Department in October proposed to reinterpret the definition of high-level waste to focus more on its radiological traits rather than its point of origin.
In a report issued 13 months earlier, the ECA said over-classification of some waste as high-level runs up excessively high storage costs at DOE facilities because there is not yet a permanent repository for material with that designation. As it now stands, ECA member communities have become “de facto interim storage sites,” Colton said.
However, much of what is currently treated as high-level has a risk profile akin to material sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the Nevada Nuclear Security Site, and the Waste Control Specialists facility in Texas, she said.
She also noted the Energy Department has yet to comply with a provision of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that called for an agency report analyzing the nationwide amount of HLW, where it is located, the risks associated with the material, and potential disposal paths.
Such a report would “provide some meat for us to be using to discuss the proposal,” Colton said. The Energy Department has said it is working on the report, which is not yet ready for release.
