Overview

The US currently operates some 104 reactors at over 80 different sites.

Although disposal of wastes is primarily the responsibility of the waste producers, spent fuel, both military and commercial, is an important exception. The DOE was made legally responsible for this, through its Office of Civilian Nuclear Waste Management (OCRWM), under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982, and was supposed to ‘take title’ to it in January 1998, but this never actually happened.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is the sole regulatory body in the US with respect to nuclear issues, although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also has related responsibilities, The NRC does have the power to delegate oversight duties to individual States, in some instances.

The licence of an existing hazardous waste site in Texas was extended in May 2008 to allow institutional LLW disposal.

The U.S. Congress created the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) in 1987 to review the DOE scientific and technical activities pertaining to the management and disposal of the nation’s spent fuel and HLW.

Management of LLW
There are currently 3 operating commercial disposal sites for LLW in the United States; Non-DOE Class B and C LLW is disposed of in 2 commercial sites, at Barnwell in South Carolina and at Richland in Washington State. Class A waste LLW is disposed of at Clive, in Utah. Barnwell will close to out of compact wastes from July 2008.

Under the 1980 Low-level Radioactive Waste Policy Act and its 1985 amendments, selecting disposal sites for commercial low-level radioactive waste is a state responsibility. Most have joined congressionally approved interstate compacts, while others are planning to develop single-state disposal sites.

The DOE operates disposal facilities for government sector LLW at: Fernald, Ohio; Hanford, Washington; Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho; Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico; Nevada Test Site, Nevada; Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee; and Savannah River Site, South Carolina.

Waste Control Specialists Inc, owners of a hazardous waste site in Andrews County, Texas, were granted a licence to dispose of Class A wastes in October 2008. It will only be available to  LLW from Texas and Vermont, at present the only members of the Texas Compact. It is also proposed to offer disposal space to wastes from other Compacts and federal facilities.

Long lived ILW (TRU-waste) is disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.

DOE began disposal of remote handled wastes at WIPP in January 2007.

In October 2003 WIPP became a member of the IAEA Network of underground research laboratories, and has been designated an international centre of excellence

Management of HLW/spent fuel
Spent fuel from civilian reactors is currently stored on-site, although the existing pool storage space is insufficient for the volumes likely to be generated over the lifetime of all operational and planned reactors (estimated at approx. 87,000 tonnes), such that up to 25,000 tonnes of additional storage capacity will likely be necessary by the 2030’s. As of end-2007 some 58,000 tonnes had been generated, increasing by approx. 2000 tonnes per annum.

A rule has been issued by the NRC allowing for on-site storage in dry casks for the next 20 years, and several projects are underway to develop capacity at those reactors most in need of relief.

It is proposed to build a facility at the Savannah River site in South Carolina to fabricate mixed oxide (MoX) fuel using plutonium from decommissioned US nuclear weapons. However, a delay in beginning construction was announced in February 2004.

Presidential approval for DOE to submit a licence application for development of a repository for commercial spent fuel and defence HLW at Yucca Mountain in Nevada was granted in 2002, following over 15 years of work. The State of Nevada has opposed the project at every stage. The project is overseen by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, which reports directly to the Secretary of Energy and to Congress.

A licence application was finally submitted to the NRC on 3rd June 2008. NRC was expected to take up to 4 years to process the application, but following the election of president Obama in 2008 support for the project disappeared, and the application was withdrawn in March 2010.

The nuclear industry and its supporters have urged Congress to require DOE to build an interim storage facility that could begin receiving spent fuel from nuclear power plants as soon after the missed 1998 deadline as possible. Such a facility, consisting of storage casks on concrete pads or in surface-based bunkers, could reduce spent fuel storage costs, increase safety, and fulfill the federal government’s legal obligations, supporters contend.

A report released by the National Commission on Energy Policy in December 2004 recommended immediate action by DOE to develop 2 interim storage facilities for spent fuel and to investigate the need for a second deep repository.

In January 2010 DOE was instructed by the President to appoint a 15-person panel to examine future options for the management of spent nuclear fuel and high level waste. Yucca Mountain is no longer considered an option.

The panel will report its interim findings within 18 months. Following public comment this will be finalised within 2 years.