Decommissioning activities at the Maine Yankee plant started in 1997 and by 2005, all the SNF and Greater-than-Class-C (GTCC) waste was transferred from the plant’s spent fuel pool to stainless steel cannisters and concrete casks on the ISFSI. The annual cost to operate the Maine Yankee ISFSI is about $10 million per year. That cost is met through ongoing litigation with DOE to
recover the expense of storing waste given the Department’s failure to fulfill its obligations to remove the waste by 1998, as provided under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
The site cannot be fully decommissioned – or be made available for new economic development opportunities - until the federal government fulfills that responsibility to remove and take title to the SNF and GTCC waste from the site. The Maine
Yankee Community Advisory Panel (CAP) Charter was established in March 2005 to enhance open communication, public involvement and education on the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel at Maine Yankee and to advocate for its prompt removal from Maine Yankee. It continues this role today for the ISFSI site.
To help determine the best path forward, DOE is supporting 11 consortia, as well as ECA, to ensure communities that
currently host defense or commercial nuclear storage facilities and ISFSIs across the country – and those that may one day be interested in being part of the solution - are engaged in discussions of the path forward given they will be most directly impacted.
Key Takeaways:
Members of the CAP attributed the success of decommissioning and storage at the Maine Yankee ISFSI to a trust-building relationship with Maine Yankee that prioritized opening the door to everyone in the community, proponents and opponents, non-nuclear experts and community leaders, purposefully drawing local and wider-than-local media coverage and ensuring meaningful
engagement.
Speakers from the CAP emphasized the importance of a having a written vision with parameters to define success and deliverables. This ensure the community accepted CAP and company decision-making and were satisfied with those decisions.
- The
federal waste program needs assured funding.
Paul Murray, Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition, provided an overview of the challenge at hand, including the need for assured funding to maintain momentum under this consent-based siting initiative. He explained that DOE’s consent-based siting approach
is encouraging communities to consider what they would want as a potential host of a CISF – from leasing land to the federal government, to an accompanying DOE mission, to tax incentives, as the Department seeks to meet its legal obligations per the NWPA.
DOE’s liabilities for its failure to accept title and provide for final disposal to all the commercial spent nuclear fuel across the nation cost taxpayers an average
of $800 million dollars every year, outpacing the growth of Congress’ annual appropriations. That makes this failure to act one of the federal government’s largest liabilities, falling just behind Social Security and Medicare.
DOE’s liabilities are paid out of the U.S. Judgment Fund – not out of the federal Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) that electric ratepayers have paid into. The balance of the NWF
is approximately $47.7 billion that continues to accumulate interest at a rate of approximately $2 billion annually.
- NRC requirements and industry aging management programs for dry cask storage systems assures continued government oversight and safe site operations
The NRC oversees spent nuclear fuel and GTCC Waste storage through a combination of regulatory requirements involving safety and security oversight; site inspections and evaluations of activities; assessments of facility performance; and enforcement of regulations – including overseeing the development and enforcement of the Aging Management Program requirements.
These Aging Management Programs (AMPs)
ensure the dry storage casks will maintain their function during the period of operation and entail periodic inspections of the canister systems. The inspections are shared with the industry on the Aging management Industry Database (AMID) website that allows sites to learn from other site’s operating experience.
- Create a single-purpose entity responsible for managing and
disposing of the nation’s nuclear waste.
Meeting participants address how existing law limits what DOE can do and when. There was discussion of creating a single-purpose entity focused solely on managing the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle, how to minimize the impact of political change with multi-generational projects, and whether there is an opportunity to get access to the
Nuclear Waste Fund – or even the interest - which has specifically been collected to fund federal interim storage and repository development. It was noted that such a single-purpose entity will take time and require unauthorized funds to implement. In the interim, DOE could reconstitute a program office in the interim to oversee efforts associated with managing and disposing of the nation's spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. This would be similar to the efforts of the
previous DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (ORCWM) that was established under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act which was dismantled with the failure to approve Yucca Mountain as the final repository for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel.
In addition, participants considered new bipartisan legislation introduced by Reps. Mike Levin (D-CA) and August Pfluger (R-TX), the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2024, in September 2024.
- DOE plans to issue Notice for Expressions of Interest in Summer 2025.
The need to site a CISF is clear. DOE hopes to have one licensed by 2038, but the Department is taking a phased approach to ensure they are informed by consortium activities occurring across the country.
As these activities continue for another year, DOE plans to issue public site screening criteria, a revised consent-based siting process, and most significantly, Notice for Expressions of Interest (EOI) in summer 2025. The EOI are not a commitment to host a federal CISF, but rather a way to start a conversation with DOE-NE and secure resources to allow for community capacity building.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Murray emphasized that by taking these steps, DOE is embarking on a 250 year long, multigenerational program, one that will require the support of and alignment across local communities, States and Tribal governments.
- DOE is demonstrating safety through The Atlas Rail Car.
DOE-NE is undertaking initiatives to address transportation and infrastructure needs related to moving SNF from an ISFSI to a CISF in the future. DOE has collaborated with the U.S. Navy to design and approve the Atlas rail car which is specifically designed to transport spent
nuclear fuel.
DOE plans to use the Atlas rail car by 2027 to move High-Burn Up casks and demonstrate the safety and efficiency of the rail car model. The 27 High-Burn up casks are currently stored at an ISFSI in North Anna, VA. In addition, DOE issued a Package Performance Demonstration (PPD) Request for Information (RFI) to solicit public input on how DOE should test the rail car to boost public confidence that it
is robust and protective of human health and the environment. The comment period ended at the end of October 2024 and DOE is expected to share plans for a path forward based on input received.
- Grants from DOE consortia are available for communities to build capacity, partnerships and champions
The need to create champions – at the local, state and federal levels – was recognized throughout the discussions. Within DOE, there are opportunities to work across the Offices of Nuclear Energy, Environmental Management and Naval Reactors given the availability of a deep geological repository impacts their missions directly.
Participants brainstormed opportunities to help educate
congressional members and their staff on issues and costs related to managing and disposing of commercial and defense HLW and SNF. In addition, the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus and the Spent Nuclear Fuels Solutions Caucus were raised as resources, and constituents can ask their representatives to participate.
These relationships are key to overcoming challenges like building and maintaining support for
multigenerational projects, ensuring regular, meaningful engagement over time, and creating alignment around a shared economic development vision.
Status of ECA Community Grants
ECA announced availability of a second round of community grants; the deadline for the applications closed as of November 1,
2024, with future funding opportunities pending. More information and the applications can be found at: consentbasedsiting.com.
