Key Issues
Safely Managing Used Nuclear Fuel
<< Previous
Yucca Mountain Central To Managing Used Fuel
DOE is developing a permanent disposal facility for used nuclear fuel and radioactive defense waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev., about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Congress charged DOE with developing a geologic disposal facility in 1982 and set a 1998 deadline for its completion. That deadline is long past due.
Presidential and congressional approval of the Yucca Mountain site in 2002 was the government’s most significant step to date toward meeting this obligation. Before any fuel is deposited at the Yucca Mountain repository, DOE must obtain approval from the NRC to build and operate the specially designed repository.
DOE plans to submit the license application for repository construction to the NRC by June 2008. If all goes as planned, the repository could open as early as 2017. However, DOE has said that it is more likely to open around 2020. The department also must complete construction of fuel acceptance facilities at the site and prepare for transportation of fuel to the site.
To fund this federal program, the law established the Nuclear Waste Fund. Since 1983, consumers of electricity produced at nuclear power plants have paid into the fund a fee of one-tenth of a cent for every kilowatt-hour of electricity. Through September 2006, these customer commitments, including interest, totaled more than $28 billion.
The law also requires the federal government to pay its share of disposal costs for high-level radioactive waste from national defense programs and other material slated for the repository.
The protracted delays in the Yucca Mountain program have prompted considerable interest in a redirection of the nation’s used fuel management strategy. Several approaches have been proposed, but all call for increased flexibility in how the government will manage used fuel in the future. Rather than pursue a direct path from reactors to disposal, it is likely that future programs will use advanced recycling technologies to take advantage of the enormous amount of energy remaining in the fuel rods and produce less hazardous forms of used fuel.
In addition to improving the ability to manage byproduct wastes, recycling technologies provide for the extraction of considerable additional energy from used fuel. Existing technologies—generally referred to as reprocessing—already do this. However, advanced recycling technologies, such as those proposed under GNEP, would accomplish this in a way that is less likely to lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world.
Whether or not the United States decides to pursue recycling, it still will require a permanent repository. All nations that reprocess used fuel, such as France and Japan, also are developing repositories.
Yucca Mountain Central To Managing Used Fuel
DOE is developing a permanent disposal facility for used nuclear fuel and radioactive defense waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev., about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Congress charged DOE with developing a geologic disposal facility in 1982 and set a 1998 deadline for its completion. That deadline is long past due.
Presidential and congressional approval of the Yucca Mountain site in 2002 was the government’s most significant step to date toward meeting this obligation. Before any fuel is deposited at the Yucca Mountain repository, DOE must obtain approval from the NRC to build and operate the specially designed repository.
DOE plans to submit the license application for repository construction to the NRC by June 2008. If all goes as planned, the repository could open as early as 2017. However, DOE has said that it is more likely to open around 2020. The department also must complete construction of fuel acceptance facilities at the site and prepare for transportation of fuel to the site.
To fund this federal program, the law established the Nuclear Waste Fund. Since 1983, consumers of electricity produced at nuclear power plants have paid into the fund a fee of one-tenth of a cent for every kilowatt-hour of electricity. Through September 2006, these customer commitments, including interest, totaled more than $28 billion.
The law also requires the federal government to pay its share of disposal costs for high-level radioactive waste from national defense programs and other material slated for the repository.
The protracted delays in the Yucca Mountain program have prompted considerable interest in a redirection of the nation’s used fuel management strategy. Several approaches have been proposed, but all call for increased flexibility in how the government will manage used fuel in the future. Rather than pursue a direct path from reactors to disposal, it is likely that future programs will use advanced recycling technologies to take advantage of the enormous amount of energy remaining in the fuel rods and produce less hazardous forms of used fuel.
In addition to improving the ability to manage byproduct wastes, recycling technologies provide for the extraction of considerable additional energy from used fuel. Existing technologies—generally referred to as reprocessing—already do this. However, advanced recycling technologies, such as those proposed under GNEP, would accomplish this in a way that is less likely to lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world.
Whether or not the United States decides to pursue recycling, it still will require a permanent repository. All nations that reprocess used fuel, such as France and Japan, also are developing repositories.
Next Page: "Safely Transporting Used Nuclear Fuel" >>
