The Department of Energy should expand its use of underground research laboratories (URLs) for research on geologic disposal of nuclear waste, including establishing facilities in the United States, a federal panel of experts said in a report Tuesday.
The Energy Department has since 2012 participated in research at URLs in Europe and Asia, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board noted in its report. That began after the Obama administration ended the agency’s efforts to secure a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the planned radioactive waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. Afterward, DOE initiated “generic research” on clay and other types of host rocks, along with disposal environments, that were significantly unlike the environment at Yucca Mountain, the new report says.
“DOE participation in URL-related international research greatly benefits the U.S. geologic disposal R&D program by furthering its understanding of generic and site-specific disposal issues relevant to alternative repository host rocks and environments,” according to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. “DOE-funded R&D activities also are benefiting the URL-related research of other countries, especially in the area of complex analytical and numerical model/software development.”
The board said its findings were derived from data provided by Energy Department and international specialists at a workshop in April 2019, a fact-finding mission with DOE in February of that year, and various publications.
It submitted four recommendations to Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Congress this month, including: The Energy Department is urged to increase participation in other nations’ underground research laboratories to further its research and development of geologic repositories, with a focus on the technical needs for designing, licensing, building, and operating disposal facilities in various forms of rock; and the department should pursue at least one URL within the United States to further development and demonstration of waste disposal approaches.
Established by Congress in 1987, the independent Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board provides technical and scientific evaluations of DOE nuclear waste management activities.
