Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
1/16/2015
Idaho is open to providing the Department of Energy a one-time waiver to allow DOE to send some spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory for research purposes, but only if the Department provides an enforceable time frame for coming back into compliance with a 1995 Settlement Agreement, according to a letter Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter (R) sent DOE last week. DOE is currently in violation of the Settlement Agreement for missing deadlines related to removing waste from the Idaho site and processing the remaining liquid waste at the site, and as a result the Department is unable to send spent nuclear fuel to INL. In a response letter to DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz, Otter wrote, “Nonetheless, Idaho remains supportive of the type of research described in your letter and will grant a one-time, conditional waiver to allow receipt of the proposed shipments at INL if DOE and Idaho were able to agree upon an enforceable commitment and time frame for timely resolving the 1995 Settlement Agreement noncompliance issues.” The governor’s office declined to comment further than the letter.
Moniz wrote to Otter on Dec. 31 seeking a waiver to enable the spent fuel to enter the state so DOE could conduct its studies, which have a time sensitive start date. DOE has two planned studies of spent nuclear fuel at the Idaho National Laboratory: one looking at the technical, economic, and non-proliferation aspects of electrochemical recycling of commercial light water reactor fuels and the other studying the long-term effects of high burnup fuel storage. In his letter, Moniz highlighted the economic benefits of the studies. “The funding associated with these research projects is expected to be about $10-20 million annually to the INL through approximately the end of this decade,” Moniz wrote. He added, “Your support of INL’s researchers and unique capabilities has been instrumental in the commercial industry’s confidence to conduct this research in Idaho. The research from these projects is highly important to the nation’s nuclear industry and aligns very well with the type of work envisioned when the MOA was approved in 2011.”
Studies Supporting DOE’s Understanding of Spent Fuel
The Department’s high burnup fuel study, conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute, is aimed to better understand the effects of high burn-up fuel aging on dry storage cask systems and to support DOE’s ongoing research and development to advance understanding of the long-term aging of spent fuel. A TN-32 bolted lid cask will be loaded with intact, high burnup SNF with three different kinds of cladding at Dominion Virginia Power’s North Anna Power Station and then transported to the Idaho National Laboratory. The TN-32 lid will be modified to allow insertion of temperature probes inside the cask at various axial and radial locations, and cask cavity gas samples will be obtained while in a monitored area controlled for potential radiological release, the plan said. Researchers will also examine two dozen spent fuel rods before they are placed in the cask to determine the changes that occur over long-term storage. After the casks have been dried correctly, the researchers will move it to the ISFSI pad, where it will be stored for a decade. DOE anticipates shipping the cask to INL in January 2016, Moniz’s letter said.
The Department’s second study on electrochemical recycling of commercial light water reactor fuels. The study plans to look at the technical, economic, and non-proliferation aspects of the fuel while also enabling fuel performance studies for the nuclear industry. DOE did not return calls for comment this week on what the study would specifically entail.
Former Governors Blast Otter’s Decision
Two former Idaho governors, meanwhile, blasted this week Otter’s decision to let any nuclear waste into the site. Former Govs. Cecil Andrus (D) and Phil Batt (R), both of whom worked to establish the 1995 agreement, accused Otter of secretly making a deal with the federal government that went against the people’s decision. “[Idaho] Attorney General Lawrence Wasden tells me the reason for this offer accepting waste for research relied upon compliance is to give them incentive to complete the high-level abatement plan,” Andrus said. “I think they have plenty of incentive already. I think it is a mistake because the main part of the agreement is violated. If we take an ounce of waste from the federal government, they will want to give you 10,000 pounds, and they’ll always say they’ll move it out, but they won’t. If we want to be a receptor of nuclear waste, we must take it up with the people. It’s their agreement, not my agreement.”
