The Department of Energy is still waiting on action from Congress that would be necessary to carry out its legal requirement to dispose of the nation’s Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste, a senior official said last week.
The agency has largely been in a holding pattern since issuing a November 2017 report to Congress regarding the 2016 environmental impact statement on options for disposal of the U.S. stockpile of the waste type. That report was required by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, which made DOE responsible for disposal of GTCC waste.
In its environmental impact statement, the Energy Department identified the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and/or generic commercial facilities as its preferred means of disposal. In a site-specific environmental assessment issued last year, DOE appeared to narrow its range of preferences to the commercially operated Waste Control Specialists disposal complex in Andrews County, Texas.
“The rule that asked us to do this report also said that we would await congressional action, so we are awaiting that action,” Anne Marie White, DOE assistant secretary for environmental management, said under questioning by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) during a May 8 hearing of the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee.
The law itself says only that DOE, upon delivering the report, should “await action by Congress” before making any decisions on disposal options.
White did not specify what action is required from Congress before the Energy Department could take its next steps on disposal. Her office did not respond to multiple queries on the matter by deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor. There was also no word from Heinrich’s office or congressional committees with jurisdiction on the matter.
The action could come in the form of language in legislation or some other type of authorization from Congress, said David Carlson, president and chief operating officer of Waste Control Specialists, which hopes to secure the business to take the GTCC waste at its West Texas disposal facility. Carlson acknowledged, though, that he could be not be sure of how or when lawmakers might approach the matter.
But with that action from Capitol Hill, the Energy Department could issue a record of decision formalizing its intended disposal approach.
In her testimony, White noted that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) would also have to issue paperwork on the matter and determine whether disposal of the waste would be regulated at the state or federal level. “So we’re a ways down the road where we’ll have a disposal option for Greater Than Class C.”
Greater-Than-Class C is any radioactive waste with a radionuclide concentration greater than Class C waste, which is designated as having the top concentration limit for shallow-land burial. Examples of GTCC waste include sealed sources, scrap metal, and other material from government and commercial nuclear activities.
Along with GTCC waste, the Energy Department must dispose of the similar GTCC-like waste, low-level and nondefense transuranic wastes produced or owned by the agency. This material is stored at DOE locations including the Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Oak Ridge Reservation.
By 2083, the U.S. stockpile of GTCC and GTCC-like wastes is expected to grow to 12,000 cubic meters. Under existing federal regulations, the material must be disposed of in an NRC-licensed geologic repository unless the commission approves a different approach. There is no such repository today.
The state of Texas in 2015 asked the NRC for clarity regarding its authority to license disposal of GTCC, GTCC-like, and transuranic wastes. Texas is an agreement state to the federal agency, through which it assumed authority to license and regulate select radioactive materials.
The NRC has been studying the question for several years. It is expected in June to issue a draft regulatory basis that could set the path for updating federal rules on disposal of the waste type. Any such rulemaking, based on past precedent, could take two to three years.
A query from Waste Control Specialists, then owned by holding company Valhi Inc., initiated Texas’ question on disposal authority to the NRC. The company, acquired in January 2018 by private equity firm J.F. Lehman & Co., has made clear it remains interested in taking the GTCC waste business and accompanying revenue. The material could go into the company’s Federal Waste Facility, which is already permitted for disposal of Class A, B, and C, low-level radioactive waste and mixed low-level waste.
Texas would also have to update its regulations on licensing for land disposal of radioactive waste before Waste Control Specialists could secure this business. In an April 26 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry and NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanded that the state have a say in GTCC waste disposal within its borders.
