Watkins: Store spent fuel at federal sites
If the Department of Energy under the Clinton Administration decides to follow the strategy of departing Energy Secretary James Watkins, spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from utilities would be stored at federal sites starting in 1998. In what amounts to an admission that a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility will not be ready to accept SNF by 1998, Watkins proposed in a December 17 letter to Senator J. Bennett Johnston that current work on an MRS be terminated, and that efforts be redirected toward standardized spent-fuel container design. According to the DOE's Samantha Williams, however, the Waste Negotiator's Office will continue its activities, and the new strategy is intended to supplement the ongoing MRS work. She also said that DOE Undersecretary Hugo Pomrehn confirmed this in a statement to the Nuclear Waste TEchnical Review Board during its meeting on January 5. The motivation for the new strategic actions is in part related to the passage of the National Energy Policy Act of 1992, which envisions the continued use of nuclear power in the overall US energy plan. Watkins points out, however, that in order for nuclear power to remain a viable alternative, the management and disposal of spent commercial nuclear fuel is essential to avoid premature and unwarranted shutdowns of operating nuclear plants, to permit renewals of existing plant licenses to provide life extensions from 40 to 60 years, and to enable new orders of advanced-design nuclear plants. In addition, the new strategy is required, according to Watkins, because the Office of the Nuclear Waste Negotiator has been unsuccessful in identifying a voluntary host site for an MRS after two years of efforts to that end. David Leroy, the Negotiator, disagrees with this statement, and has noted that it still may be possible to present a candidate host site for the MRS to Congress by June 1993.
- OSTI ID:
- 6546992
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear News (La Grange Park, Illinois); (United States), Vol. 36:2; ISSN 0029-5574
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
STORAGE
NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY ACTS
SPENT FUEL CASKS
SPENT FUEL ELEMENTS
SPENT FUELS
US MRS PROJECT
BUILDINGS
CASKS
CONTAINERS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUELS
LAWS
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
WASTE DISPOSAL ACTS
WASTES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage