Alternative Plan Proposed for Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage

Congress gave the DOE $10 million and ordered it to establish nuclear waste storage sites at locations around the country.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) plan to store the nation’s spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, NV keeps running into roadblocks. So Congress and some in the nuclear business have proposed storing the waste in large casks in high-security lots located around the country. Rep. David Hobson (R-OH) is chairman of the House Energy and Water Development Committee. He said the nation needs to “rethink our approach to dealing with spent fuel. If we want to build a new generation of nuclear reactors, we need to demonstrate to Wall Street that the federal government will live up to its responsibilities under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to take title to commercial spent nuclear fuel,” he said.

One such storage facility recently cleared its final technical hurdle. Private Storage Fuel has negotiated a 50-year lease with the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians to store 4,000 casks of spent fuel on 340 hm2 (840 acres) of the tribe’s reservation. The site is located about 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Salt Lake City, UT. A panel of administrative judges appointed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rejected an objection by Utah that a plane from a nearby Air Force base could crash into the site. The company has now applied for a license from the NRC.

And at the same time Private Storage Fuel’s plan was approved, Congress gave the DOE $10 million and ordered the agency to establish similar storage areas in other parts of the country. The Bush administration still believes that the Yucca Mountain facility is the appropriate place to store the waste, a DOE spokesperson said. However, the site’s storage capacity is limited bv statute. So the aeencv is studvin? Hobson’s oronosal.

Copyright Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. Jul 2005