Still No Nuclear Waste Disposal Option
Some interesting timing of events this week. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved construction of two new nuclear reactors in Georgia. These will be the first new reactors approved by the NRC in the U.S. in more than 30 years!
Late last week the Associated Press reported that “The United States should immediately start looking for an alternative to replace the failed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada, which cost an estimated $15 billion but was never completed, a presidential commission said Thursday. In its final report, the 15-member commission said the government also must prepare for the eventual large-scale transportation of spent nuclear fuel from storage sites across the country to the new site — or to interim storage facilities yet to be built.”
Will anything really get done? Let’s hope so. The U.S. has committed to finding and funding a large scale nuclear waste repository to store spent nuclear waste from reactors throughout the U.S. We got closer to realizing this promise with the Yucca Mountain project that President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid killed soon after Obama took office, chiefly because of its close proximity to Las Vegas. Opponents will tell you that there were substantive issues with the site, though many individuals involved with the project that I’ve talked to assured me that the site was a good choice to meet our long-term needs.
Ultimately, I believe we aren’t building a nuclear waste repository because nuclear opponents don’t want it to happen. It’s easy to oppose a nuclear facility (new or existing seeking relicensure) by pointing to the fact there is no solution for long-term storage of nuclear waste. Once we solve the problems of safe transport and storage, one of their best arguments goes away. It is time to get serious and solve the issues of storage and transport, both for our environment and for a sensible national energy policy to wean us from foreign oil and other “dirty energy” sources.
