Early this month, a federal appeals court rejected a Nuclear Regulatory Commission plan to allow nuclear power plants to store radioactive waste on site for 60 years after a plant shuts down.
Ruling unanimously, the three-judge panel said NRC did not fully evaluate the risks of long-term, on-site storage of nuclear waste. New Jersey and three other states had sued NRC last year, claiming that the agency has not shown that on-site storage — originally designed to be “temporary” — is safe for the long term.
The ruling adds new urgency to a problem that has confounded federal officials for more than 30 years: What to do with the nation’s radioactive waste.
Extensive studies have established that deep underground storage in suitable geologic formations is the best long-term disposal method. In 1992, Congress designated Nevada’s Yucca Mountain for a $15 billion nuclear waste facility that was built but never licensed. For not-in-my-backyard reasons, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., opposes the facility. Meanwhile, the waste — spent nuclear fuel — is stored “temporarily” at 104 nuclear reactors nationwide.
At Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek, PSEG Nuclear is running out of room in its spent fuel pools and is now storing some of its used radioactive fuel in “dry cask” containers outdoors. Last year, NRC granted approval for the Salem 1, Salem 2 and Hope Creek reactors to operate an additional 20 years after the current 40-year licenses expire — through 2036, 2040 and 2046, respectively. Even if the additional 60-year policy had been upheld, there’s no room for another 100 years’
worth of waste at Artificial Island.
The nuclear power industry cannot continue to be like a housewife in a garbage strike, storing waste in the basement. The industry, which provides 20 percent of the nation’s electricity, must demand that NRC provide a safe, long-term waste facility immediately. In January, a commission set up by President Barack Obama to find alternatives urged a “consent-based” approach to locating an underground waste repository.
Allison MacFarlane, Obama’s nominee to head the NRC, noted in confirmation hearings last week that a Carlsbad, N.M., site which opened in 1999 to handle radioactive materials from defense facilities, was actually welcomed by local residents.
This is the NRC’s problem. The industry — and the people — must demand a solution.