New report says US nuke waste policy "has completely broken down”

2 February 2012


The Blue Ribbon Commission appointed by US energy secretary Steven Chu in January 2010, to provide comprehensive recommendations for a long-term solution to managing and disposing of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, has released its final report.

The commission finds that the Obama administration’s decision to dismantle the Yucca Mountain project, a permanent geological waste repository Nevada, after $15 billion had been spent on it, was “but the latest indicator of a policy that has been troubled for decades and has now all but completely broken down.”

According to the report the approach laid out under the 1987 Amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act – which centred the programme on the Yucca Mountain site – has not produced a timely solution for dealing with the nation’s most hazardous radioactive materials.
In its letter to Steven Chu, the commission added that the “nation’s failure to come to grips with the nuclear waste issue has already proved damaging and costly.” It also says that it did not evaluate Yucca Mountain “or any other location as a potential site for the storage of spent nuclear fuel or disposal of high level waste, nor have we taken a position on the Administration’s request to withdraw the Yucca Mountain license application.”

The strategy outlined by the commission contains three crucial recommendations. First,employing a consent-based approach to siting future nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities. Hitherto, trying to force such facilities on unwilling states, tribes, and communities has not worked.

Second, that the responsibility for the nation’s nuclear waste management programme be transferred to a new organisation—one that is independent of the Department of Energy and dedicated solely to ensuring the safe storage and ultimate disposal of spent nuclear waste fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

Third, that changing the manner in which fees – about $750 million a year – paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund are treated in the federal budget to ensure they are being set aside and available for use as Congress initially intended.

The report also recommends that immediate efforts are made to commence development of at least one geologic disposal facility and at least one consolidated storage facility, as well as efforts to prepare for the eventual large-scale transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste from current storage sites to those facilities. It also recommends the USA continue to provide support for nuclear energy innovation and workforce development, and strengthen its international leadership role.

The BRC’s recommendations will now be considered by Congress and the Obama administration. Congressional hearings on the report are expected to begin more or less immediately. Among issues high on the list for consideration if Congress decides to put into force the BRC’s recommendations is timing and implementation, especially those elements requiring legislative action to amend the NWPA. It will also have to consider cost, keeping in mind the BRC's “acute concern about the federal budget deficit” and high energy prices.




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