March 17, 2014

STUDY LOOKS AT INTERIM STORAGE, REPROCESSING NEAR SAVANNAH RIVER

By ExchangeMonitor

The region surrounding the Savannah River Site could contribute to the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle through R&D, reprocessing and consolidated storage of used fuel, according to a study released yesterday by the SRS Community Reuse Organization. However, any new nuclear facility must be supported by a community consensus, the report states, following a key recommendation from the Administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. And while that panel urged the creation of up to several interim storage sites, SRSCRO Executive Director Rick McLeod said that local communities are not interested in just doing interim storage. “They felt that consolidated storage by itself brought limited economic benefits and is considered by many as a potential negative image factor for the region,” McLeod said yesterday in a call with reporters. “Therefore the community role must include job-creating activities, including research and development, manufacturing and all those other issues associated with managing the nuclear fuel cycle.”

That could include establishing a capability for reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, using the site’s H-Canyon facility and Savannah River National Lab to perform R&D work on reprocessing and long-term fuel storage. The CRO hired Tim Frazier of the firm Dickstein Shapiro, and formerly the designated federal officer for the BRC, to complete the study. Frazier noted in yesterday’s call that while a consolidated storage facility would only ultimately employ around 40 or 45 workers, a small reprocessing facility would result in about 1,700 long-term jobs. The study found several potential locations in the region for storage and reprocessing facilities, and noted that the region is located near numerous reactor sites in the Southeast.

McCleod emphasized that the report was just a study of options for the region, and acknowledged that obtaining community support could be difficult. “There are a lot of obstruction and hurdles in the way, and we realize that, but… we need to start looking for a solution and not just impediments to the solution. That’s what this study is trying to do, is start building those solutions,” he said.

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