ECA Meeting Summary

Building a Business Case and Identifying Economic Opportunities for Consent-Based Siting

In July, Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) brought together over sixty state legislators, local government officials, Tribal members, federal officials, nuclear industry leaders and experts to consider elements of consent and economic development opportunities related to hosting a consolidated federal interim storage facility (CFIS). ECA’s meeting  “Building a Business Case and Identifying Economic Opportunities for Consent-Based Siting,” the second ECA has hosted this year as one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) thirteen consent-based siting consortia, focused on assisting communities – broadly defined to include local, state, and Tribal governments – to build a vision based on lessons learned, input from existing sender and  receiver sites and subject matter experts, and to facilitate interaction across all the parties that will need to provide “consent.” 

The key takeaways from the meetings which are further outlined in the summary include:

• Communities are potentially interested in hosting nuclear missions that include interim storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste.
• Communities need more information from DOE on what potential missions exist and whether DOE will be providing specific incentives to communities.
• Communities need resources to educate their communities and surrounding communities.
• DOE needs to identify if they are siting one large, consolidated site or a series of sites.
• DOE should continue the Consent-Based Siting process and continue to provide its vision while listening to communities about their interest in potentially hosting a mission that includes interim storage
• Communities want to know what “interim storage” mean in a timeline and what is the process that DOE is undertaking to create a geologic repository
• There are a lot of lessons learned from past attempts at creating a high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel geologic repository both domestically and internationally.

Read ECA's full meeting summary available below and at consentbasedsiting.com.

Gone Fission Nuclear Report: Consent-Based Siting for Spent Nuclear Fuel: A National Conversation

The Gone Fission Nuclear Report travels to the nation’s capital this week to join a national conversation on next steps for identifying a community to host interim spent fuel storage from America’s nuclear power plants. Our podcast sponsor, the Energy Communities Alliance, convened a meeting of elected officials, community leaders, economic developers and Department of Energy officials to discuss what kind of incentives a community will need--and what kind of economic benefits can accrue--from volunteering to host an interim storage facility. This is an important topic as the U.S. finds itself on the brink of a nuclear renaissance that will increase the role of nuclear energy in meeting our national energy needs. Is your community interested in exploring safe spent fuel storage as an economic driver?

September 16-18, 2024| Crystal Gateway Marriott | Arlington, VA

​Join us for the 10th Annual National Cleanup Workshop! 

Hear from senior DOE leaders, local government officials, and industry leaders about DOE's cleanup priorities, the future of the workforce, and more.

Featured Speakers: 

• The Honorable Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of U.S. Department of Energy
• Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03), Chairman, House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee
• Candice Robertson, Senior Advisor, DOE-EM
• Jeff Avery, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, DOE-EM
• Greg Sosson, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations, DOE-EM
• Kristen Ellis, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory and Policy Affairs, DOE-EM
• Dae Chung, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Corporate Services, DOE-EM
• James McConnell, Associate Principal Deputy Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration
• Brent Gerry, Mayor, City of West Richland, WA; Chair, ECA and
• Rebecca Casper, Mayor, City of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Vice-Chair, ECA.

Hosted by ECA with the cooperation of the Energy Facility Contractors Group and DOE-EM, the workshop brings together more than 800 senior DOE executives, officials from DOE sites, industry leaders, local elected officials, contractors and community stakeholders to discuss EM’s progress to address the environmental legacy of the Manhattan Project and Cold War-era U.S. nuclear weapons program.