ECA JOINS 8-ORGANIZATION LETTER TO DOE SECRETARY TO ADDRESS SNF & HLW

The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) joined with seven other organizations involved with nuclear energy in a letter addressed to the Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright asking to meet with the Secretary to discuss "the restoration of a highly functioning program to meet DOE’s legal responsibility to manage and dispose of the nation’s commercial and legacy defense spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW)." 

The signatory organizations include:

•                    American Nuclear Society (ANS) 

•                    Decommissioning Plant Coalition (DPC) 

•                    Energy Communities Alliance (ECA)

•                    National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) 

•                    Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 

•                    Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC) 

•                    Sustainable Fuel Cycle Task Force Science Panel 

•                    United States Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC)

"We are writing to request a meeting with you to discuss how we can best support the Administration’s efforts in one critical area—the restoration of a highly functioning program to meet DOE’s legal responsibility to manage and dispose of the nation’s commercial and legacy defense spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW).

Doing so would result in an immense savings to the U.S. taxpayers. The remaining federal financial liabilities for inaction are estimated today between $37.6 billion and $44.5 billion for commercial SNF, while the liability for the Department’s inability to remove its own legacy HLW and SNF from DOE sites was estimated in FY 2023 at $23 billion and growing. 

It has been forty-two years since Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act establishing a national program for the management and disposal of SNF and HLW, and much has been learned about what constitutes an effective SNF/HLW program. Recent successes in Finland, Canada, Switzerland, and Sweden—nations actively pursuing SNF/HLW solutions with technologies first advanced in the U.S.—highlight the tremendous opportunity that exists for refreshing our own program.

The hurdles that have thus far prevented progress can be overcome, leading to greater confidence in the nation’s ability to manage current and future waste and facilitating the deployment of new, advanced nuclear technologies."

Read the full letter on ECA's website by clicking here.