A new strategy released by the U.S. Department of Energy on Jan. 11 is calling for spent nuclear fuel to begin being consolidated as soon as 2021.
The document, entitled Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste, is intended to serve as a statement of the Obama Administration’s policy on handling that fuel and waste and as a launch pad for discussions on the issue among the Administration, Congress, and the various stakeholders.
The strategy document is also the Administration’s response to the 2012 final report and recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.
Wiscasset is currently home to an independent spent fuel storage installation at the site of the former Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, which closed in 1997.
The U.S. Department of Energy, by statute and contract, was supposed to have begun removing the spent fuel stored in Wiscasset in 1998, but all of the fuel still remains on site.
The new strategy calls for a three-stage disposal process, starting with a pilot interim storage facility that would be actively accepting spent nuclear fuel in 2021. The pilot facility would start off with a focus on removing the spent fuel from closed nuclear reactor sites, such as Maine Yankee.
A larger interim facility would be made available in 2025, either as an expansion of the pilot site or at another location, to hold the fuel until a permanent geologic storage site would be online in 2048.
The sites would be located based on a consent process, with communities either volunteering to be hosts for the facilities or being approached by the government. Determining how that consent is defined and codified are “critical first steps” in the site-choosing process, according to the strategy.
The strategy document contends that legislation would need to be enacted for the time-line to work out, including creating access to fees collected for the purpose of disposing of spent fuel, and the creation of a new waste management and disposal organization, or MDO.
The MDO “is needed to provide the stability, focus, and credibility to build public trust and confidence,” according to the strategy document. The scope of the organization would be limited to managing and disposing of the radioactive waste.
Eric Howes, the director of public and government affairs for Maine Yankee, said his company is encouraged by the recommendations for reforming the spent nuclear fuel program.
“We’re cautioning people,” Howes said. “These are recommendations; they’re encouraging but there are significant challenges to reforming the spent nuclear fuel program, not the least of which is the House and the Senate are not in agreement on this.”
It’s encouraging that the Department of Energy wants to focus on removing spent fuel from shutdown reactor sites first, particularly since rate payers are continuing to pay for the fuel to be stored in Wiscasset, Howes said.
Asked if Maine Yankee had given any consideration to volunteering to be the pilot interim storage facility since fuel has already been stored there for 15 years, Howes said they’re just looking for the federal government to fulfill its obligations in removing the spent fuel.
During a public comment session of the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Jan. 22, the board was asked if the town would volunteer to be the site of the proposed pilot interim storage facility.
Selectman Chair Pamela Dunning said the benefits of such a facility seem to be geared toward the short term, such as temporary construction jobs, and the long term benefits are few.
“I see a lot of people upset about living in a waste dump,” Dunning said. The townspeople would have to make a decision if that is something they want, she said.
Selectman Ed Polewarczyk said more spent nuclear fuel could bring more tax dollars, and that he disagrees with the value of the waste being depreciated since it’s 93 percent recyclable.
“I don’t know what the people would feel about Wiscasset being a waste dump for spent nuclear fuel,” Polewarczyk said.
