Idaho Governor and Attorney General announce nuclear cleanup and research agreement
Office of Governor Brad Little | 11/7/2019
Governor Brad Little and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden have reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy that provides a path to resolve the department’s breaches of the state’s 1995 Settlement Agreement and re-commence research on commercial spent nuclear fuel at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
Despite success on the part of the Department of Energy to achieve significant cleanup milestones since 1995, breaches started in 2012 when the department failed to meet a commitment for treating sodium bearing liquid high level waste at INL. The department later fell behind on shipments of transuranic waste from INL to its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and ultimately missed a 2018 deadline for all such waste to be out of Idaho. As a result of these breaches, the State of Idaho
invoked its remedy laid out in the 1995 agreement and blocked shipments of spent nuclear fuel to INL, including small amounts of commercial power spent nuclear fuel intended for research purposes.
Department of Energy officials signed the new agreement earlier this week, and Little and Wasden signed it on November 6. It was carefully and intensely negotiated during most of this year by the Governor and Attorney General and their staff members, along with significant assistance from Congressman Mike Simpson, U.S. Senator Jim Risch, and U.S. Senator Mike Crapo.
The agreement provides a pathway to cure the Department of Energy’s breaches by securing clean-up related stipulations that Wasden began pursuing nearly five years ago when the Department of Energy requested to bring commercial research fuel to Idaho, despite being in breach of the 1995 agreement.
Under the framework, INL is granted a one-time waiver to receive 25 commercial power spent nuclear fuel rods – approximately 100 pounds of heavy metal – from the Byron Nuclear Generating Station in Illinois. Before this can occur, however, the Department of Energy must begin successfully treating sodium bearing liquid high level waste at INL by turning it into a safer dry, solid state. Currently, the liquid waste sits in tanks directly above the Snake River Aquifer, while the Department of
Energy works to resolve operational problems at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Senate Committee Schedules Hearing on Brouillette Nomination as Energy Secretary
Exchange Monitor | 11/8/2019
President Donald Trump on Thursday officially nominated Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry, who will resign as secretary of energy on Dec. 1.
Brouillette, a former auto-insurance lobbyist with some turn-of-the-millennium Washington experience on his rapidly expanding resume, must be confirmed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee before he can be sworn in as Trump’s second secretary of energy.
The committee has scheduled a nomination hearing for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 14.
“I am honored to be nominated by President Trump to serve as the U.S. Secretary of Energy, and grateful to Secretary Perry for asking me to join him at the Department of Energy over two years ago,” Brouillette said in a prepared statement Thursday. “If confirmed, I will further Secretary Perry’s legacy of promoting energy independence, innovation, and security for the American people.”
BUDGET & APPROPRIATIONS
BUDGET & APPROPRIATIONS
|
Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org.
|
Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local
governments.
|
|
|
|
