While a Biden presidency may well keep Yucca Mountain on ice, there might be some hope of the administration pushing for a solution to long-term waste storage, if nuclear power figures into the united Democratic government’s clean-energy push.
Biden and his energy-secretary-to-be, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) will determine whether nuclear survives the cut to the outgoing Donald Trump administration’s “all of the above” energy strategy. Granholm, familiar with the auto industry from her days in Lansing, is seen as key to getting car makers onboard with lower-emission vehicles. Her stance on the power industry is less clear.
An early indicator for the Biden administration’s support, or lack thereof, for nuclear, might be its attitude toward proposed, commercially operated consolidated interim waste storage facilities in New Mexico and Texas. Holtec is applying for a license to build a facility in New Mexico, while Interim Storage Partners (ISP), a joint venture of Waste Control Specialists and Orano, is applying to build another across the border in Texas.
Both are seeking licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that the civilian-nuclear regulator cannot grant until it finishes environmental reviews that will stretch months into Biden’s presidency. With Democrats set to take control of the Senate, Granholm could be confirmed and sworn in to the Department of Energy well before that. Meanwhile, the governors of Texas and New Mexico both oppose the proposed interim storage facilities.
Here are some other developments RadWaste Monitor will be following in 2021:
- Biden’s choice for chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and his choice to replace Trump-era chair Kristine Svinicki, who is retiring Jan. 20 after becoming the longest-serving commissioner in history.
- Whether financially burdened nuclear plants in Ohio and Illinois will receive subsidies to stay open. Exelon plans to shut down two plants in Illinois next year due to financial problems, while two Ohio plants formerly owned by FirstEnergy Corp. and currently owned by Energy Harbor may not receive the subsidies they were promised in controversial legislation passed in 2019. Ohio lawmakers are currently in the process of deciding whether to repeal the promised subsidies, and the allegedly corrupt law that created them.
- What the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides to do about a rulemaking for the disposal of Greater Than Class C waste. In October, the commission issued conflicting reports on staff members’ stance on whether Greater Than Class C waste falls strictly under the jurisdiction of the federal government or whether states can dispose of such waste on their own.
- Whether a Biden DOE would let the Office of Nuclear Energy continue exploring the possibility of spent fuel reprocessing. NRC staff plan to recommend a potential path forward for a limited spent fuel reprocessing rulemaking early next year after limited spent fuel reprocessing was suspended in 2016. It has been unfunded since.
- Whether the NRC agrees to transfer Entergy’s license for the Michigan-based Palisades power plant to Holtec International for decommissioning. The two submitting the licnese transfer application in December. The plant is set to shut down in May 2022.
