Energy Dept. OKs Waste Storage Contracts
Posted on: Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 18:00 CDT
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded two contracts for storage containers to hold nuclear fuel bound for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada.
Areva Federal Services in Maryland and NAC International in Georgia received contracts to design, license and demonstrate the Transportation, Aging and Disposal canister system, the primary way for encasing spent radioactive fuel for transportation to and disposal in the facility, the Energy Department said Wednesday.
The two contracts could total up to $13.8 million, the department said. Each was awarded for a term of up to five years.
We believe that these advanced canisters will provide for the safe, long-term storage of our nation's spent nuclear fuel, said Edward Sproat, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management director. This is a significant step in the Department's efforts to license and construct the repository at Yucca Mountain.
In 2002, the president and Congress approved Yucca Mountain as the site for the nation's first geologic repository for permanent spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The Department's license application for authorization to construct the repository is scheduled to be submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission no later than June 30, 2008.
Source: United Press International
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