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Wireless Password: 9166703926. Nuclear Waste Management: How (and how much), When, and Where?. Timothy A. Frazier July 23, 2013. Spent Nuclear Fuel. Over 69,000 metric tons at end of 2012 Approximately 52,000 wet storage Approximately 17,000 dry storage Increases by about 2,000 MT a year
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Nuclear Waste Management: How (and how much), When, and Where? Timothy A. Frazier July 23, 2013
Spent Nuclear Fuel • Over 69,000 metric tons at end of 2012 • Approximately 52,000 wet storage • Approximately 17,000 dry storage • Increases by about 2,000 MT a year • Fuel moved to dry storage when pools are full
Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future • Established by Secretary of Energy at the direction of the President to • conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle • recommend a new plan/path forward • Review • Storage and disposal • Legal and commercial arrangements for management of used nuclear fuel • Decision-making processes • Open and transparent decisions • Advice and recommendations on • Policy and management of used nuclear fuel • Changes in law • Fees currently being charged (Nuclear Waste Fee and Fund)
Commissioners • Lee Hamilton, Co-Chair - Director of The Center on Congress at Indiana University, former Member of Congress (D-IN) • Brent Scowcroft, Co-Chair – President, The Scowcroft Group, and former National Security Advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush • Mark Ayers, President, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO (deceased) • Vicky Bailey, former Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; former Indiana PUC Commissioner • Albert Carnesale, Chancellor Emeritus and Professor, UCLA • Pete V. Domenici, Senior Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center; former U.S. Senator (R-NM) • Susan Eisenhower, President, Eisenhower Group, Inc. • Chuck Hagel, Distinguished Professor at Georgetown University, Former U.S. Senator (R-NE) (now Secretary of Defense) • Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute • Allison Macfarlane, Assoc. Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason Univ. (now Chairman of NRC) • Richard A. Meserve, President, Carnegie Institution for Science, and former Chairman, U.S. NRC • Ernie Moniz, Professor of Physics and Cecil & Ida Green Distinguished Professor, MIT (now Secretary of Energy) • Per Peterson, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, Univ. of California – Berkeley • John Rowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation • Phil Sharp, President, Resources for the Future; former Member of Congress (D-IN)
Process (2 year) • Hearings (w/Testimony) • Tours (home and abroad) • Public Input • Draft Report (7/2011) • Final report (1/2012)
Blue Ribbon Commission - Key Recommendations (this is the “How”) • A new, consent-based approach to siting future nuclear waste management facilities • A new, single-purpose organization focused on nuclear waste in the United States • Have assured access to funding • Promptly develop deep geological disposal site(s) for spent fuel and high-level nuclear waste • Promptly developone or more consolidatedstorage facilities as part of managing back-end of nuclear fuel cycle (move stranded fuel first)
Consent Based Approach? • BRC purposefully did not define • Commission was impacted by successful consent based efforts • Sweden, Finland • Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, NM • Should be: • Adaptive • Staged • Flexible • Inclusive (all levels of affected government) • Process • Transparent, flexible, patient, responsive, and an emphasis on consultation
When? • BRC conveyed sense of urgency - January 2012 • “shared sense of urgency” • “prompt” • Near-term executive branch actions identified • January 2013, Statement of Administration Policy – “Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-level Radioactive Waste” • Pilot-scale interim consolidated storage – 2021 • Consolidated storage – 2025 • Repository – 2048 • Legislation required
S1240 – Nuclear Waste Administration Act • Senators Wyden and Murkowski, Senate Energy and Natural Resources • Senators Feinstein and Alexander, Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development • Issued discussion draft in April and accepted comments • We provided comments, some comments addressed • Would establish the “Nuclear Waste Administration” reporting to the President • Funding still subject to appropriations • Consolidated storage with emphasis on “priority” waste • Storage no longer linked to disposal • Hearing scheduled for July 30th
Where? Host Communities • There are a number of communities interested in hosting storage and/or disposal sites • Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization (first in the game) • Carlsbad, New Mexico and Eddy/Lea Counties • West Texas • Mississippi • Others are showing interest • Funding needed
Developing Alliance of Communities and Industry • A work in progress • Formalized group of potential host communities and nuclear industry partners • Communities working together with States and other interested parties • Host communities and States defining the agreements and incentives required for their participation • Ability to influence the ongoing effort to enact legislation • Dickstein comments on draft legislation representative of the Alliance
Outlook • General consensus that the likelihood of S1240 moving ahead is not high • DOE will drag its feet until some “authorization” from Congress is received • Large divide between House and Senate • More and more communities are showing interest • A strong Alliance could make difference and maintain the sense of urgency to find a solution
Areas of Interest for Attorneys General • For States in which spent nuclear fuel is now stored at active and decommissioned reactor sites, the Attorneys General should: • actively support the legislative process directed at developing consent-based storage and repository sites • coordinate their efforts with the communities proposing to consent to consolidated storage and permanent repositories • For States which will be impacted by the movement of spent nuclear fuel to storage and repository sites, the Attorney General should: • focus in coordinated fashion on the legislative provisions relating to safety and security of such movements • coordinate their efforts with the communities which will be destination for the spent nuclear fuel.