Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) wants to give state governors a firm voice in the Department of Energy’s reinterpretation of the federal definition of high-level radioactive waste (HLW).
In an amendment submitted to the lower chamber’s version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the House Armed Services Committee chairman proposed prohibiting any DOE funding in the upcoming federal budget year “to apply the interpretation of high-level radioactive waste … unless, on a case-by-case basis, such interpretation is approved by the Governor of the State in which such waste exists.”
At the end of a review process that began last fall, the Energy Department said in a June 10 notice in the Federal Register it does not believe that all radioactive waste from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel should be considered high-level waste. That potentially opens the door for new disposal approaches for some of this material, though the agency said it has not made any decisions on waste management.
Under congressional mandate, the Energy Department is supposed to place its high-level waste in a geologic repository for permanent disposal. It does not yet have such a facility, and the agency says some of that HLW has radioactive characteristics akin to transuranic or low-level radioactive wastes. Those waste types do not have to go into a geologic repository.
There is believed to be 90 million gallons of solids, liquids, and sludge left over from decades of U.S. nuclear weapons production, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future said in 2012.
Critics say the Energy Department now could simply leave its HLW stocks in current storage locations at DOE facilities in Idaho, New York, South Carolina, and Washington state. Others worry that disposal sites such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico could now become home to material that was previously considered high-level waste.
The Energy Department has already said it would evaluate, under the National Environmental Policy Act, potential disposal options for up to 10,000 gallons of grouted or vitrified waste treated at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina.
If Smith’s amendment becomes law, his home state is almost certain to disallow the federal reinterpretation of high-level waste.
“By taking this action, the administration seeks to cut out state input and move towards disposal options of their choosing, including those already deemed to be unsafe by their own assessments and in violation of the existing legally binding agreement. We will consider all options to stop this reckless and dangerous action,” Washington state Gov. and presidential candidate Jay Inslee (D) and Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) said in a joint June 5 statement following the DOE announcement of its waste reinterpretation.
However, DOE Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar said the department has no “plans to propose anything” regarding Hanford’s high-level waste, The Associated Press reported.
Smith’s amendment is among more than 600 submitted to the House Rules Committee for the NDAA, which passed out of the lower chamber’s Armed Services Committee earlier this month. The Rules Committee is scheduled during the week of July 8 to set the terms of the debate for the House bill, including which amendments can be considered on the floor.
The Senate on Thursday voted 86-8 to pass its $750 billion version of the defense policy bill for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. That measure does not appear to make any reference to the high-level waste situation.
The NDAA establishes allowed spending levels for federal defense programs, including nuclear-weapon and cleanup managed by the Department of Energy. The actual funding is provided by separate appropriations bills.
Both versions of the 2020 NDAA zero out the Trump administration’s request for $26 million for defense nuclear waste disposal.
That line item would be added to another $90 million elsewhere in the Energy Department budget plan for a $116 million request to resume licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
Under the 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, DOE is supposed to consolidate the nation’s high-level waste from defense nuclear operations and used fuel from commercial nuclear power plants deep underground on federal land in the Nevada desert.
The agency’s deadline to begin taking that waste was Jan. 31, 1998, but it did not file its license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission until 2008 during the George W. Bush administration. The Obama administration defunded that proceeding two years later, eventually embarking on a short-lived program for “consent-based siting” of nuclear waste. The Trump administration has returned to Yucca Mountain, but has not yet persuaded Congress to appropriate any money for licensing.
Prior to the 2018 midterm elections, the GOP-led House supported the White House Yucca budget requests while the also GOP-led Senate sought funding for interim storage programs to expedite the consolidation of spent fuel away from power plants. In the end, Congress approved neither.
In the wake of the election, the Democratic Party-majority House has also turned its back on Yucca Mountain – despite regular reminders that it remains the law of the land. A House minibus appropriations bill for DOE, the NRC, and a number of other agencies would provide $47.5 million for integrated nuclear waste management, including $25 million for consolidated interim storage. The House passed the bill earlier this month.
The Senate has yet to unveil any appropriations bills for fiscal 2020.
