By John Stang
The state lawmaker who has headed Wyoming’s latest exploration of hosting a spent nuclear fuel storage facility has shifted that leadership role over to Gov. Mark Gordon (R).
On Tuesday, state Sen. Jim Anderson (R) told the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Minerals, Business, and Economic Development Committee he would not file a proposed bill to allow the governor or state agencies to start talks with the federal government on licensing and constructing such a site. Legal research shows the governor already has this power, according to Anderson.
That shifts the decision to pursue the matter over to the governor’s office, he said.
The committee met to hear a report from its Spent Fuel Rods Subcommittee, chaired by Anderson, on potential steps toward building a temporary storage site for used fuel from the nation’s nuclear power plants.
The bill was recommended in a report issued by the subcommittee following a September meeting. The report also recommended separate legislation authorizing further assessment of an interim facility for dry-cask storage of used fuel in Wyoming. However, that item was not discussed at Tuesday’s committee meeting.
Gordon has not decided whether this is a good approach for the state to raise money, according to governor’s spokesman Michael Pearlman. Gordon’s staff need to research the economics, revenue, and safety issues before making a decision, he said. That research includes discussing the matter more with Anderson.
Gordon “is uncertain on whether this proposal is the best way for the state to generate revenue,” Pearlman said.
Spent fuel storage has been estimated to produce $10 million annually for the state, based on the amount the federal government is legally allowed to pay states that agree to host radioactive waste under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
“If we don’t get more revenue, we will have to cut funding to K-12 education,” Anderson said. Echoing prior comments, Anderson suggested the state could negotiate larger payments from Washington.
All six members of the public who testified Tuesday before the committee opposed used-fuel storage in the state, citing concerns about leaking canisters, effects on tourism, and property values and safety matters. Also, $10 million seems like a small amount of revenue to the state in exchange for the risks, some said.
Resident Dallas Laird of Casper said $10 million a year is too small of a benefit, saying revenue of $500 million a year would make the site more appealing.
Resident Maria Katherman said: “No one without monetary aspects to gain is for the idea. …. To use the excuse that it goes to K-12, why … I’ll retain my civility and not say what it is.”
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act gave the Department of Energy until Jan. 31, 1998, to begin disposal of high-level radioactive waste and used fuel from U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The agency is more than two decades past that deadline and still does not have a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a geologic repository at the congressionally directed location of Yucca Mountain, Nev. Nevada’s state government, and its congressional delegation, remain firmly opposed to hosting other states’ radioactive waste.
Meanwhile, centralizing used reactor fuel in a small number of locations is seen as an option for DOE to meet its legal mandate in the absence of a permanent disposal site. Separate corporate teams are seeking NRC licenses for consolidated interim storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico.
One objection raised to those projects, which also came up at this week’s meeting in Wyoming, was the potential for temporary storage to become permanent if the federal government remains unable to build a final repository.
“Yucca Mountain is not being developed, so Wyoming might be the permanent site,” said Barbara Oakley of the advocacy group Lands of Wyoming.
In 1992, the legislature backed “monitored retrievable storage” for used fuel in Fremont County in west-central Wyoming. Then-Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan vetoed that bill. Anderson revived the idea last summer. The legislature’s Management Council — which represents both chambers — formed the spent fuel subcommittee in a 7-6 vote in July to study the issue, with Anderson as chairman. Anderson is also co-chairman of the bicameral Joint Minerals, Business, and Economic Development Committee.
