ECA & DECOMMISSIONING PLANT COALITION HOST MEETING TO DISCUSS CONSENT BASED SITING
This week ECA hosted another Consent Based Siting Meeting, this time in collaboration with the Decommissioning Plant Coalition at the Maine Yankee Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) in Wiscasset, Maine. To kick off the meeting, Paul Murray, Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy
(DOE-NE) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Sent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition, presented an update from the Office of Consent-Based Siting. Every year, DOE’s liabilities continue to grow by billions of dollars, outpacing the growth of its annual appropriations budget. To cover the costs of settlement agreements with private facilities that store waste on-site, waste that DOE is legal responsible to take charge
of, per the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1986 (NWPA). DOE takes on a liability which costs taxpayers an average of $800 million dollars every year, the second highest following Social Security (fact-check also). Siting a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) is DOE’s responsibility to meet its legal obligations per the NWPA.
The need to site a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility is clear, and DOE aims to become a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Licensee and site one beginning in 2038. DOE hopes to open Expressions of Interest (EOIs) in hosting a CISF to the public and communities by summer of 2025. These EOI are not a commitment for hosting a CISF, but rather a way to start a conversation
with DOE-NE and allow for community capacity building. Murray emphasized that by taking these steps, DOE is embarking on a 250 year long, multigenerational program, one that will doubtlessly require support from our local communities to succeed, but also support and engagement from state and Tribal governments. DOE-NE is also undertaking initiatives to build the physical infrastructure and social capital necessary to site a
CISF. DOE collaborated with the U.S. Navy to design and approve the Atlas rail car. The Atlas rail car is specifically designed to transport spent nuclear fuel (SNF), and DOE plans to move High-Burn Up casks by 2027 via the Atlas rail car to prove the safety and efficiency of the rail car model. To prove the
safety of the Atlas rail car to the public, DOE has created the Package Performance Demonstration Request for Information (RFI) to solicit public input for how DOE can test the rail car (link to RFI is possible). Murray also discussed DOE’s plans to assess alternative remediation options and disposal pathways for Hanford waste, to remove waste sooner and at a lower cost to taxpayers. During the first day of the meeting,
Maine Yankee provided a tour of the Maine Yankee IFSFI to meeting attendees. An IFSFI is an interim storage facility for SNF. Participants were able to view over 60 dry-storage casks, see the facilities on-site, and learned about what an ISFSI is and how an ISFSI is safely maintained and monitored. Maine Yankee operated a 900-megawatt nuclear power plant that operated until 1997, when it was shut down for economic
reasons. The plant was successfully decommissioned between 1997 and 2005, which involved the transfer of SNF and greater-than-class-C waste from the plant’s spent fuel pool to stainless steel cannisters and concrete casks. The annual cost to operate the Maine Yankee ISFSI comes to about $10 million per year. Maine Yankee meets this cost through ongoing litigation with DOE to recover the cost of storing waste as a
result of DOE’s failure to fulfill its obligations to remove the waste. Once the Federal Government fulfills its responsibility to remove SNF and GTCC waste from the site, the Maine Yankee ISFSI site will be decommissioned. ECA looks forward to providing a complete summary of the meeting next week. For more on Consent-Based Siting, see our website.
ECA DIRECTOR OF NUCLEAR POLICY SPEAKS AT U.S. WOMEN IN NUCLEAR WORKSHOP
Last week, ECA’s Director of Nuclear Policy, Kara Colton, spoke at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and the D.C. Chapter of U.S. Women in Nuclear (U.S. WIN) “Talking about Nuclear” workshop. Colton presented alongside, Niko Davis, and Kay Foley with NEI. Colton focused on the community perspective surrounding nuclear advocacy. Historically ECA and our communities have focused on DOE’s Environmental Management and cleanup mission. However, in
recent years ECA has developed our New Nuclear Initiative, that is focused on addressing the questions that existing and potential nuclear communities have: - What do communities need to know to attract and support new nuclear development?
- What and how should communities communicate to industry, developers, national laboratories, state and federal government about local resources and development opportunities?
- What hurdles and challenges will communities face and who can
we work with to overcome them?
Colton emphasized that ECA communities possess a shared and lived experience of hosting nuclear facilities right in their backyard. By tapping into this experience, communities can provide real insight on how to effectively work with DOE, the nuclear industry, and contractors. ECA has hosted three New Nuclear Forum
to date and is hosting the 4th Annual New Nuclear Forum May 13-15, 2025 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. These Forums bring together DOE, federal, state, local, and Tribal governments along with economic development leaders such as developers, utilities, regulators, industry, and academia to
discuss a holistic view of nuclear projects. Topics of conversations include discussing the front end of the fuel-cycle to the back end of the fuel-cycle, building local support and state support, enabling legislation, identifying public-private partnerships, economic impact, and financing of a nuclear project, and understanding industrial applications and the regulatory environment. Colton shared some of the lessons
learned through these Forums thus far that provide insight for future projects, such as: - Active listening. Allowing the community to tell you who they are and who they want. Only they know their community identity.
- Local and community engagement should be considered an integral part of project planning, such as siting and licensing. Engagement takes time, it cannot be a “one and done” approach when talking about
nuclear.
- Find local champions and trusted voices. Trust is a key factor when it comes to nuclear, and if you want to provide information and gain trust you must find how the community works.
- Create partnerships around and support for a project. To succeed it is key to become a part of the community. Potential host communities understand that these are multi-generation projects and want that to equate multi-generational benefits.
You must invest time, understand the near-term and long-term challenges and benefits as the community sees them.
- Find alignment. Different states and different communities have different goals. There is a need to develop a shared vision for what a community and state want. The vision can help communities and regions outcomes. What they want to pursue, why they want to pursue it, and what that timeline looks like.
- Address nuclear
waste. When discussing a new project, it is nearly impossible to not discuss what happens with the nuclear waste. Addressing people’s concerns about what happens with the waste and where we currently stand on a solution to nuclear waste is key to a holistic, honest conversation. ECA is one among DOE’s Consent-Based Siting Consortium, and we are working to address concerns regarding nuclear waste. For more information on our approach, visit www.consentbasedsiting.com.
ECA is grateful to NEI for the opportunity to discuss the role of local communities in nuclear advocacy and lessons learned thus far. To find out more about ECA’s upcoming New Nuclear Forum, we welcome you to visit our website.
ENSURING LONG TERM SUCCESS: ECA TRANSITION PAPER FOR DOE-EM
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) must continuously examine its work and evolve. The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) is calling on the next Administration to launch a comprehensive review of all aspects of the EM program. To meet the challenges and better ensure the continued success of the DOE-EM program, the ECA’s Transition paper
offers the following recommendations: - Establishment of disposal paths for every type of radioactive and hazardous waste, including ensuring that both private and public sites are available and utilized.
- The reevaluation of DOE-EM’s use of the end-state contracting model so that more funds are available for actual work.
- Ensuring that regulatory agreements are reasonably achievable and balance short- and long-term needs.
- Improvement of workforce planning to
address “brain drain” and long-term needs for skilled talent of all kinds.
- Continuing focus on economic and energy development benefits.
- The maintaining of robust local, state, tribal government, and stakeholder engagement at each site.
- Clarification on DOE policy regarding how the discovery of hazardous and radioactive materials at “completed sites” will be addressed to ensure that cleanup is protective of human health and the environment, and that the local community is
not responsible for the DOE’s legacy waste cleanup.
- The reconstituting of a dedicated nuclear waste organization within the DOE to address high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel issues.
Read the paper by clicking its cover above or the button below!
PROVIDE YOUR INPUT - OPEN REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION & PUBLIC COMMENT Opportunity: DOE Package Performance Demonstration DOE intends to establish a consolidated interim storage facility for storage of spent nuclear fuel until a permanent repository is available. DOE is performing this market research to gather information from all interested parties that will help formulate the actual solicitation. The first RFI is working to establish the market boundaries that can best fulfill the needs of the CISF program. This RFI works to answer the best contract
strategy and contract type, the ability of commercial businesses to support and fulfill CISF requirements & to what capacity small businesses can support CISF requirements. Response Due: October 31 2024, 7:00 pm EST Proposed Rule: Generic Environmental Impact Statement for Licensing of New Nuclear Reactors The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking comment on a proposed rule for a Generic Environmental Impact Statement for licensing new reactors. The generic impact statement uses a technology-neutral framework and plant/site parameters to identify environmental issues common to new reactors, and those issues needing project-specific analysis. NRC staff members will conduct an in-person meeting and two webinars to discuss the proposed generic impact statement and
accept comments from the public. The in-person meeting will be at NRC headquarters, 11555 Rockville Pike in Rockville, Maryland, on Nov. 7 from 1-4p.m. Eastern time. The webinars will be Nov. 13 from 1-4 p.m. Eastern time, and Nov. 14 from 6-9 p.m. Eastern time. Additional details for all three meetings will be available soon on the NRC’s website. The meetings are one method to comment before the Dec. 18 deadline. Comments can also be submitted via regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2020-0101, via email to Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov, or by mail to Office of Administration, Mail Stop TWFN-7- A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Response Due: December 18 2024 |
|
|
|
Gone Fission Nuclear Report - Reviewing EM in the New Administration October 7, 2024 | S4
E17 With a new Administration taking office in January, the Energy Communities Alliance has released a detailed report calling for a top-to-bottom review of the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management program. In this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast, ECA Executive Director Seth Kirshenberg shares with Host Michael Butler the recommendations his
organization believes can help the cleanup program better accomplish its formidable mission, including revisiting EM's end-state contracting model and re-establishing a dedicated DOE office to oversee nuclear waste storage. ECA-DOE-NE Coal to Nuclear Transition Webinar September 27, 2024 As part of ECA’s New Nuclear Initiative, participants will join a discussion with DOE-NE on the feasibility of converting the nation’s retiring coal plants to nuclear power plants. By leveraging
the existing workforce and some of the infrastructure in coal communities the transition from coal-to-nuclear could preserve hundreds of jobs, while creating new jobs and economic opportunities.
DOE-NE - What's Next for the Federal Consolidated Interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel November 20 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm EST In this sixth installment of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) consent-based siting webinar series, DOE officials will discuss consent-based siting progress and answer questions related to the federal consolidated interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. The questions will be drawn from public feedback
received during previous webinars, from social science research, and from inquiries sent to DOE email inboxes. The Consent-based Siting Consortia will also be in attendance. All
communities, organizations, and individuals interested in DOE’s consent-based siting and consortia activities are encouraged to attend this webinar and, if they would like to ask questions, submit them via Zoom.gov or by email at consentbasedsiting@hq.doe.gov. Register Here
|
|
