Local, state, and federal representatives attend an informal meeting with U.S. Department of Energy officials in Wiscasset on Friday, June 3. Back from left: state Sen. Chris Johnson and Department of Energy representatives Melissa Bates and Andrew Griffith. Front from left: Selectman Judy Colby; Marge Kilkelly, senior policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Angus King; Pam Trinward, field representative for U.S. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree; Patricia Aho, state representative for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins; Town Manager Marian Anderson; and Selectman Judy Flanagan. (Abigail Adams photo)
Representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy are touring the country in an effort to develop a durable solution to a decades-old problem that grows by 2,000 metric tons each year – where to store spent nuclear fuel.
In their fifth public meeting nationwide, representatives collected input from attendees in Boston on Thursday, June 2, as part of the consent-based siting process initiated by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future in 2010.
Wiscasset Board of Selectmen Chair Ben Rines speaks at a U.S. Department of Energy public meeting in Boston on Thursday, June 2. (Photo courtesy Marge Kilkelly)
Wiscasset Board of Selectmen Chair Ben Rines and representatives from every congressional office in Maine attended to urge the Department of Energy to make good on its promise to remove the hundreds of metric tons of spent nuclear fuel that has been stored at Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. in Wiscasset since the plant’s closure in 1997.
Rines read a resolution adopted by Wiscasset voters in 2001, which asked the federal government to take immediate possession of the remaining nuclear waste at the Maine Yankee site.
“This is a meeting about consent-based nuclear waste siting,” Rines said following the resolution. “We consent that you should take it.”
The following day, Andrew Griffith, associate deputy assistant secretary for fuel cycle technologies, and engineer Melissa Bates spoke to a small crowd at the Wiscasset Community Center, which included selectmen, town officials, residents, county officials, and representatives of Maine’s congressional delegation.
The effort to find a permanent home for spent nuclear fuel has been marred by legal, legislative, and budgetary complications, Griffith and Bates said.
The top-down approach that resulted in the selection of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a repository site proved to be unworkable, Griffith said. The identified solution never had the buy-in of local, state, and tribal leaders.
President Barack Obama’s administration has been clear – Yucca Mountain is off the table, Griffith said. However, for a federally funded and operated repository site, the Department of Energy is still bound to Yucca Mountain by legislation, Griffith said.
Private entities have come forward with proposals to construct repositories for spent nuclear fuel, and counties in southeast New Mexico and west Texas are willing to serve as a location, Griffith said.
“There’s some legal ambiguity over engaging with private entities,” Griffith said. “Do we have the authority to do it? We need clear authorization from Congress.”
As an outgrowth of the Blue Ribbon Commission, the previous top-down approach was reversed and a bottom-up approach based on the input and involvement of the communities impacted, or a “consent-based siting process,” was adopted.
The Department of Energy is in the process of touring the country and holding public meetings as part of the process. The tour is as much about collecting input as it is about explaining the technical and legal complications that have prevented the department from fulfilling its promise to dispose of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, Griffith said.
Wiscasset Selectman Judy Flanagan asked Griffith and Bates about the major themes heard in the meetings.
According to Griffith, throughout the country there has been a strong sentiment against nuclear energy; many want to see the end of nuclear energy as a power source. While the team working on the siting process is not involved, “we have to record it, because it was a very clear message that we received,” Griffith said.
Many asked about which communities would be first in line to have their spent nuclear fuel removed if a site is identified, Griffith said. All utility companies signed onto a contract for the removal of nuclear waste, and the department will remove the fuel based on which utility signed the contract first, he said.
There were questions about inequity and ensuring informed consent in the siting process, Bates said, with many concerned that economically disadvantaged communities would not be treated fairly. Many also expressed concern that municipalities are not being appropriately compensated for their role in storing fuel, Bates said.
The Department of Energy is paying enormous fines to utility companies for the department’s failure to meet the deadline for taking possession of spent nuclear fuel, Bates said. However, municipalities do not have the same ability to sue as private companies do.
SunCats Co-chair and former Belgium resident Susan van Alsenoy asked about the risk of contamination from the spent fuel at Maine Yankee and whether it is a potential terrorist target.
According to Griffith, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is responsible for setting safety standards to prevent contamination and potential terrorist attacks, and, as far as he knows, Maine Yankee is in compliance.
Dan Thompson was Wiscasset’s town planner when Maine Yankee shut its doors in 1997. According to Thompson, Maine Yankee representatives asked the community for input. “It was the start of the consent-based solution,” Thompson said. “It started here in Wiscasset.”
Through community involvement, Maine Yankee decided to store its fuel in dry storage to enable its transportation out of the community, Thompson said. “And we want it out of here,” he said.
Thompson urged the department to take a common-sense approach in finding a permanent solution. “Don’t make it so hard,” he said.
With the upcoming change in presidential administrations, and the legal, legislative, and budgetary issues faced by the department, a robust, resilient system that addresses the needs of all impacted communities may take decades, Griffith said.
While there are several challenges, the team working on the consent-based siting process is a strong one, and they are optimistic about finding a permanent solution, Bates said.
