ECA Expresses Support for DOE’s Proposed HLW Interpretation; Calls on DOE to Lead, Provide Data
ECA Staff | 3/14/2019
[ECA Note: This article is the third in a series ECA is sharing this week highlighting presentations and papers prepared by ECA members and staff for the 2019 Waste Management Symposia (WMS), March 3-7, 2019 in Phoenix, AZ.]
At WMS last week, Assistant Secretary Anne White spoke of efforts to drive a “completion mindset” within the Office of Environmental Management (EM). White shared that her office is “working to get the best value for every dollar for cleanup;” that DOE wants “to reduce M&O costs and instead use those resources for cleanup;” and that the “most up-to-date technology and information should drive cleanup.” Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary Mark Gilbertson similarly described a “renewed sense of urgency” in the pursuit of the “right cleanup,” and striving to get projects, as Assistant Secretary White says, “done-done.”
DOE’s stated focus at WMS aligns with potential benefits outlined by Kara Colton, ECA’s Director of Nuclear Energy Policies, during her WMS presentation for the panel, “Implementation
Approaches & Expectations for US DOE Radwaste Management.” Colton expressed ECA’s support for DOE moving ahead to evaluate its proposed interpretation on the statutory definition of high-level nuclear waste (HLW), expecting that the potential benefits could meet DOE’s goals by:
- Reducing years of operations.
- Clearing the way for treated HLW that qualifies as transuranic (TRU) waste to go to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) or a private facility before a HLW repository is available.
- Accelerating tank retrievals and closures.
- Allowing lower activity HLW to be disposed of in a grout form and somewhere other than a deep geologic repository.
- Realizing taxpayer savings of more than $40 billion.
While ECA expects that DOE’s proposed interpretation or “clarification” is a technically-defensible, safe and risk-based alternative that can move waste out of ECA communities more expeditiously, Colton cautioned DOE still has work to do. In her presentation, she called on DOE to lead the process and provide:
- Data: DOE needs to completely evaluate – and share publicly – the feasibility, costs, cost savings, regulatory impacts and timelines.
- Formal meaningful engagement with host communities, state regulators, Tribes and stakeholders.
- A framework for implementation.
- An understanding of how the proposed interpretation is and will be considered as part of DOE’s End-States Contracting Strategy and 10-year planning efforts.
Colton discussed other recommendations ECA formally submitted in response to DOE’s October 10, 2018, request for public comment on its proposed HLW Interpretation. These include being transparent, revising DOE Order 435.1, and working with the
state of New Mexico on a permit modification for WIPP to remove the prohibition on accepting tank wastes and wastes managed as HLW.
Rick McLeod, ECA member and President/CEO of the SRS Community Reuse Organization, also presented on the panel, providing the local, grassroots perspective on DOE’s proposed interpretation from around the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. View his slides here.
ECA’s support for DOE’s efforts to identify safe, alternative options to move waste disposition and cleanup forward was also discussed in an article, “A New Interpretation of High-Level Waste,” featured in the Spring 2019 edition of Radwaste Solutions magazine. You can read the article here alongside other featured articles.
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