In the latest rallying cry for an issue now back-burnered for a decade, the federal government’s independent technical experts on nuclear waste called on the Department of Energy to help forge a “long-term political commitment” to site a nuclear waste repository.
“Successful repository implementation needs a legal framework that clearly describes the roles of the implementer, regulator, and society,” the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) told DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) head Kathryn Huff in a letter dated Dec. 30 and distributed by the board to the press. “Procedures for conducting the site selection and implementing the repository program must be accepted by all these parties,” the letter said.
NWTRB made its recommendations following its review of a December 2020 board meeting on DOE’s non-site-specific waste disposal research program.
Based on that review, the board also noted that major challenges to a successful repository project are “not primarily technical, but rather, involve fully addressing the societal concerns and challenges … in developing the technical research to be conducted.” DOE can advance its repository program by engaging stakeholders and clearly communicating disposal options and safety features, NWTRB said.
The board, like other stakeholders including the broader nuclear industry, is leaning into the Joe Biden administration’s plan to reboot the Barack Obama administration’s consent-based siting program. With Biden apparently dead set against licensing Yucca Mountain as a permanent waste repository, his administration is focused on what Huff in December characterized as the most serious push yet to get every governmental authority in an affected territory to agree to host an interim nuclear waste storage facility.
DOE in November unveiled a request for information (RFI) seeking input from communities on a potential interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel, but the request was aimed more at developing a process for evaluating site candidates rather than actually finding a willing host. Responses to that RFI are due in March, and some input could soon be rolling in.
DOE has also acknowledged that current law governing nuclear waste will need an update before a federal interim storage site can break ground. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) currently forbids DOE from building an interim storage site until a permanent repository for spent fuel exists — and the only repository site named in the law, Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, has been on ice since 2011 following successful political pressure on the Barack Obama administration from the Silver State’s congressional delegation.
As the feds deliberate on a nuclear waste storage solution, the private sector looks to fill in the gaps. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in September licensed Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture between Waste Control Specialists and Orano USA, to build a commercially-operated interim storage site in west Texas. A similar site, planned for New Mexico by Holtec International, is also under consideration at NRC.
The U.S. is home to around 80,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. Most waste generated at civilian nuclear power plants is stored at reactor sites on dry storage pads. Because a permanent repository doesn’t yet exist, DOE currently foots the bill for spent fuel management at nuclear plants through a taxpayer-funded settlement account.
