The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will within a few days formally propose to change the way it interprets the term “high-level radioactive waste” (HLW).
A Federal Register notice, expected to be posted next week, will outline DOE’s plan to classify high-level waste more on its radioactive characteristics and less on its source of origin, an Energy Department official said during a background briefing Thursday. That could open up new routes for disposal of the waste now stored at several DOE facilities around the nation.
A number of entities with links to the federal nuclear complex have pressed for revising the classification of high-level waste. That includes the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), a nongovernmental group that represents communities near DOE sites, which issued a report in September 2017 saying the department spends too much time and money by treating too much material as high-level.
However, two lawmakers from Nevada on Thursday said they believe this redefinition is intended to allow additional waste streams to be sent to the planned Yucca Mountain repository in their state.
Under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, not all wastes from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel need be considered high-level waste. Congress limited HLW to those materials that are both “highly radioactive” and “resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel,” according to the upcoming notice.
Under the proposed interpretation, reprocessing waste could be considered non-HLW if it does not exceed concentration limits for Class C low-level radioactive waste, or if it does not require disposal in a deep geologic repository and meets certain other criteria.
Waste that satisifes either criteria should not be considered high-level waste and could be disposed of based on its radiological characteristics. As a theoretical example, the department already has a disposal site for material classified as transuranic waste — the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. There are also federal and commercial facilities for disposal of low-level radioactive waste.
“At this time, DOE is not making – and has not made – any decisions on the disposal of any particular waste stream,” the Federal Register notice says. “Disposal decisions, when made, will be based on the consideration of public comments in response to this Notice and prior input and consultation with appropriate state and local regulators and stakeholders. DOE will continue its current practice of managing all its reprocessing wastes as if they were HLW unless and until a specific waste is determined to be another category of waste based on detailed technical assessments of its characteristics and an evaluation of potential disposal pathway.”
Don Hancock, nuclear waste safety director at the nongovernmental Southwest Research and Information Center in New Mexico, told the Albuquerque Journal that reclassification could lead to more waste being shipped to WIPP.
“Obviously, my organization and lots of others will oppose and object to this reclassification,” he said.
During Thursday’s phone briefing, the DOE official stressed no decision will be made until after the 60-day public comment period.
Comments can be sent via email to [email protected].
The Energy Department manages large inventories of legacy waste generated through spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing activities from nuclear weapons production and related work. The federal agency also manages a smaller quantity of vitrified waste from a demonstration of commercial spent fuel reprocessing, according to the notice.
Liquid wastes are held in big underground tanks at DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and the Hanford Site in Washington state. Liquid wastes that have been converted into a solid form are currently located at SRS, INL, and a non-DOE site, the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York.
Much of what DOE calls high-level waste actually already meets disposal requirements as Class A, B, or C low-level radioactive waste, although DOE has not disposed of it that way, Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White told Weapons Complex Monitor during an interview in September. “There’s opportunities within the existing definition, in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, for a different interpretation,” she added.
The Energy Department is now setting the wheels in motion for such an interpretation.
The move “helps DOE to move waste out of many of our communities more efficiently using a safe, smarter decision framework.” ECA Director of Nuclear Programs Kara Colton said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
During the call, the DOE official said organizations such as ECA, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the National Academies of Science, and the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, have all issued reports in recent years suggesting a fresh look at the regulatory definition.
The Energy Department still hasn’t submitted a report to Congress due Feb. 1 on classifying certain defense nuclear waste, including the high-level waste. The report, required by the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018, is under review within the department, the DOE official said during the call. White has suggested the report could be issued this year.
Nevada Lawmakers Leery of Yucca Implications
Reps. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said Thursday they have concerns about the potential impact a HLW redefinition could have on efforts to revive the Yucca Mountain repository.
“This move to reinterpret the definition of high-level nuclear waste is nothing more than a backdoor Yucca Mountain,” Titus said in a news release. “Current law does not allow this kind of waste to be shipped to the State for permanent disposal.”
Congress in 1987 designated the site for permanent disposal of spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors and high-level radioactive waste from defense nuclear operations. The project has made little headway in subsequent decades, and the Obama administration canceled all licensing efforts. The Trump administration has sought funding to resume licensing for the repository, but has been stymied by Conrgress in the last two budget cycles.
“By redefining the term ‘high-level nuclear waste,’ various communities across the country will be given the greenlight to ship hazardous, radioactive materials to Nevada without our consent,” Rosen said in a separate statement. “I’ll continue to stand up to this Administration and fight for Nevadans who overwhelmingly oppose this ill-conceived plan.”
Rosen is running for Senate, seeking to unseat Republican Dean Heller, himself an outspoken opponent of Yucca Mountain.
