The Administration is also requesting $250 million for spent nuclear fuel recycling research (under the DOE nuclear energy research and development program) as part of a new Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). The Housepassed Energy and Water appropriations measure would cut the recycling research request to $120 million — still a 50% increase over the FY2006 level.

The Administration proposed draft legislation on April 5 to repeal the 70,000 metric ton limit on the amount of waste that can be emplaced at Yucca Mountain, a limit that is expected to be exceeded by currently operating reactors during their lifetimes. The bill also would reduce the scope of environmental reviews for the repository, change the budget scoring of waste fee receipts so that program funding could be increased more easily, exempt nuclear waste sent to Yucca Mountain from disposal requirements under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and allow preemption of state and local transportation requirements. To remove a potential obstacle to new nuclear power plants posed by Yucca Mountain delays, the bill would require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to assume that sufficient disposal capacity will be available for waste produced by new reactors. Notably excluded from the bill (H.R. 5360, S. 2589, introduced by Representative Barton and Senator Domenici by request) is an authorization for interim federal storage of nuclear waste.

NRC on February 21 issued a license for a private interim waste storage facility in Utah being developed by a nuclear utility consortium called Private Fuel Storage (PFS). However, PFS still needs approval from the Bureau of Land Management to widen a highway or build a railroad to the site. The above-ground PFS facility is intended to store up to 4,000 casks of spent nuclear fuel awaiting planned eventual disposal at Yucca Mountain.

Abstract: Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants.

 [read report]

Topics: Waste Management, Energy, Risk & Reform