Waste Control Specialists anticipates finishing the license process for an interim spent fuel storage facility by 2019 and finishing construction by the end of 2020, WCS CEO Bill Lindquist said in comments made yesterday to announce the company’s intention of building an interim storage facility. WCS is angling to become the nation’s first consolidated storage facility for high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel, an important step in the Department of Energy’s nuclear waste management strategy post-Yucca Mountain. According to Lindquist, the support of the local community as well as WCS’ proven site durability gives the company confidence in its aggressive 2020 completion timeline. “Some will scoff at our timeline – they’ll say we’ve been wrestling with this issue for 40 years, and here comes a small Texas company saying they expect to begin solving this problem in just five years,” Lindquist said. “We know how to do this. We know the key is open and honest communication with the community, the state, and now the federal government. That dialogue is well underway in Texas. And today, for us, it begins in Washington.”
While WCS announced its intentions to move forward, major steps still need to be taken before any construction could take place, WCS President Rod Baltzer said. For one, DOE and WCS still need to hold formal discussion on the economics and DOE’s involvement in the project. According to Baltzer, WCS anticipates dealing with DOE as the main customer for the storage option. Major legislative and funding questions, though, still need to be resolved before DOE could enter into any agreements, but WCS hopes those will be resolved soon. “DOE is aware of what we are doing,” Lindquist said. “We have not had formal conversations with them, and we look forward to, pretty soon, having them with DOE. In terms of involvement and importance, DOE ranks at the top of that. We have not had any formal discussions with anyone in the Administration, but I think we will do that relatively soon.”
WCS’ application to NRC will include storage of both spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste, including potentially DOE-owned high-level waste. According to Baltzer, the facility should be able to hold the DOE-owned high-level waste, but those discussions with DOE have not happened yet. “We will file an application that will be for either [spent fuel or DOE-high level waste],” Baltzer said. “Our focus is on permanently shut down plants in Texas. As those discussions take place with DOE, we will see if there is any interest there, and how that impacts this plan as well.”
A consent-based pilot consolidated storage facility is the preferred strategy of the Department of Energy to satisfy the nation’s spent fuel disposal needs, but due to language in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Department cannot consider other sites beyond Yucca Mountain in Nevada without Congressional approval. In its Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request, released last week, the Department requested a reform that would enable it to move forward with its waste management strategy, but it remains to be seen whether that language will make it into the final bill.
