nuclear-news

“The Administration supports the development of a pilot interim storage facility with an initial focus on accepting used nuclear fuel from shut-down reactor sites,” Chu said, in an Energy Department response to recommendations from a Blue Ribbon Committee empaneled to explore new strategies.

The nation’s spent fuel inventory — more than 75,000 tons — was to be buried in a deep repository in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain until that project was halted by the Obama administration. That material remains stored at the nation’s 104 commercial power reactors.

A key difference between future and past disposal efforts involves a greater reliance on community sentiment in areas vetted for nuclear waste storage or spent fuel disposal…..

Although Chu’s report does not mention specific locations, Savannah River Site in South Carolina has been mentioned among areas that could be considered for a pilot facility to demonstrate interim storage capabilities.

Jim Giusti, an Energy Department spokesman at the site, said there is no behind-the-scenes plan or proposal to involve SRS……

Chu wrote that the administration supports a waste management system with an initial pilot interim storage facility, followed by a larger, consolidated interim facility – possibly co-located with the pilot project.

Eventually, the goal would be to create a permanent geologic repository for the disposal of used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, such as the vitrified defense waste processed and stored at SRS.

Preliminary site investigations for a geologic repository could be initiated within 10 years, the report said.

“The Administration’s goal is to have a repository sited by 2026; the site characterized, and the repository designed and licensed by 2042; and the repository constructed and its operations started by 2048.” http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2013-01-16/doe-touts-interim-storage-option-spent-nuclear-fuel?v=1358336852