It might be years before there is any legal way for the Department of Energy to build a federally operated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel before first building a permanent repository, the agency’s acting head of nuclear waste management said at an industry conference this week.
“We recognize that there are a limited amount of things that we can actually do without changing the Nuclear Waste Policy Act [NWPA],” said Kim Petry, acting deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition in DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, during a panel Wednesday at the American Nuclear Society’s annual conference. “And we recognize, our congressional partners recognize, that we are working on a solution that could take years, but we’re starting to work on it now.”
As Petry spoke, DOE was months along in its latest quest to find a willing host for a future federal interim storage facility. The agency is currently reviewing community responses to its November request for information (RFI) seeking input on how it should go about siting such a project. A funding opportunity for interested hosts should be on the way this summer, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm has said.
However, DOE has acknowledged that it can’t break ground on a federally-run interim storage site without an update to NWPA. The country’s nuclear waste law precludes DOE from taking title to spent nuclear fuel from civilian power plants until a permanent repository for such waste is operational.
The only site congressionally authorized as a repository, Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, remains on ice after the Joe Biden administration refused to fund the project for anything more than physical security.
Meanwhile, some at DOE, such as assistant secretary of energy for nuclear energy Kathryn Huff, have suggested standing up an independent body to oversee a federal interim storage site similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Those conversations “are also being had” at the agency in a “very preliminary” way, Petry said Wednesday. “We have to start somewhere.”
