Pressure grows for building a centralized nuclear waste repository

Last week Ernest Moniz, the U.S. secretary of energy, told the BrattleboroReformer that DOE is working on developing permanent nuclear waste storage solutions, but that  his department needs Congressional support. Senate Bill 1240 has been under review by the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee since 2013. The legislation calls for the development of a Nuclear Waste Administration to take the responsibility of transporting and storing nuclear waste out of DOE’s hands. The agency would also be responsible for finding the right geological repository. “The legislation has been crafted and is totally consistent with administration policy,” said Moniz. “We certainly hope to see it marked up in committee and hopefully passed.”

In 1983, DOE agreed with private nuclear power plants to take possession of all nuclear waste produced as a result of their operations. DOE would move the waste to a centralized storage site for long-term disposal. Yucca Mountain in Nevada was later chosen as the site for the centralized repository. After a $9 billion investment in the Yucca Mountain site since the mid-1908s, the Obama administration shut down the project due to local opposition, environmental concerns, and pressure from Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada).

Senate Bill 1240 would provide a consensual process for building nuclear waste storage facilities and adequate funding for managing nuclear waste. Moniz said that despite the money spent on the Yucca Mountain site, the project was not viable. “It certainly did not follow the consent-based process.”

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future issued a January 2012 report noting the urgent need for a repository, but not without local consent. “The consent-based approach is very crucial to us,” said Moniz, a member of the commission. “The hosting community and the state and the federal government must be aligned if we are given Congressional authority to pursue this work with communities that are interested. We fully expect that there will be multiple interested communities.”