Virginia Program Office for Recycling & Disposition of Spent Nuclear Fuel
Virginia Program Office for Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Disposition Project Plan (Basics) Background: The nuclear business decided, in the 1950s, to recycle spent nuclear fuel and was on track to make that happen in time to accept this material from commercial reactors. In 1976, President Ford declared that recycling spent nuclear fuel was a proliferation risk and issued a presidential declaration banning reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. President Carter renewed the ban which put all three existing recycling companies out of business. By the time President Reagan reinstated the ability to recycle, the industry was entrenched in mining and enriching uranium to make fuel and the idea of recycling was tabled. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982, as amended in 1987, enacted a deep geologic repository plan to bury commercial spent nuclear fuel in Yucca Mountain (about 100 miles north of Las Vegas). The US Government spent $10 billion+ from a fund collected from nuclear power rate payers to study the geology of Yucca Mountain. Because of Nevada politics, the project was delayed from the planned opening in 1999. In 2010, the project was defunded. This has resulted in a situation in which the US Government spends $2.2 million per day to store spent nuclear fuel on each nuclear reactor site. The fund for handling spent nuclear fuel is currently at $40 billion+ and can be spent for no other purpose. No progress toward a permanent solution for spent nuclear fuel is in force and no State in the United States has consented to accept the spent nuclear fuel for disposition. Introduction and discussion: The US Congress and the current administration heartily support nuclear energy. For example, the preponderance of the nation is in favor of starting up the project to bury spent nuclear fuel in the Nevada desert, as evidenced by the overwhelming House vote (340-72) on H.R. 3053, The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 2018 1 . Nevada realizes that they are weak in seniority in both the Senate and House, so they are expected to increase the number of law suits filed in the 9 th Circuit Court to extract as many delays as they can to thwart the effort to secure a final resting place for the spent nuclear fuel from the United States’ nuclear power plants. Since there appears, at least to the nuclear professional community, to be no material showstoppers for moving this program along and since it is the law of the land, it makes sense that the spent fuel issue gets put to bed once and for all. However, since recycling will preclude the need for a deep geologic repository, the door is open for Virginia to become the nuclear and clean energy capital of the United States (and a major player in the world). Virginia is in a perfect position to lead this effort. The university system has a well-established nuclear engineering program, there is a wealth of nuclear industry in the State, and the citizens have, for the most part, viewed the nuclear industry as a beneficial one within their State. Virginia also values clean energy (as does most of the rest of the United States). While renewables have their place in clean energy, they are suffering from lack of efficient storage, minimal development in the marketplace, limited lifetime, and recycling issues. The ideal situation would be to advocate next generation nuclear reactors (Small Modular Reactors or SMR) to supply the base load power source for renewable energy sources instead of fossil-fuel driven natural gas and coal. Since Virginia already has operational experience in nuclear reactors and supports the educational programs and research, it would be an ideal location for the Carbon-Free Energy National Laboratory. Overwhelmingly, when citizens are presented with the facts and the potential benefits, they favor proceeding with the program. As part of an ANS 1 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3053/all-actions?overview=closed&q=%7B%22roll-call- vote%22%3A%22all%22%7D Page 1 of 4
Virginia Program Office for Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Disposition Project Plan (Basics) Operations and Power Division grant, ANS-Nevada has been conducting outreach to organizations in northern and southern Nevada. Over the past 4 years, Steve curtis has personally presented to 12 groups on nuclear basics and spent nuclear fuel facts (some on this grant and some independent of this grant). All of these groups were overwhelmingly in favor of recycling spent nuclear fuel if it leads to benefits from the US Government and the potential for high-tech business development related to nuclear energy production. This would lead us to believe that, armed with facts and a picture of the economic development potential, Virginians would be in favor of spent nuclear fuel acceptance and their priority for its inception would be high. Four organizations in South Carolina and Nevada are leading the charge for Nevada clean nuclear energy business development. The analogs for Virginia would certainly include the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority (VNECA) 1. Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness (CNTA) – This is a non-profit organization formed in Aiken South Carolina (the site of the Savannah River National Laboratory) to promote public education programs for nuclear energy and encourage the establishment of more business cases for the nuclear industry, especially for Government programs. CNTA has become an organization with more than 400 individual members and corporate members include world- class companies such as Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Savannah River Remediation, B&W Technologies, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, the Centerra-SRS Team, and others who recognize the importance of CNTA programs. 2. The American Nuclear Society - Nevada Section - The nucleus of support for the acceptance of spent nuclear fuel in Nevada has been driven by the ANS section for more than 30 years. There is also a strong student chapter of ANS at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Technical presentations suited to the general public have been made all during this time and will continue into the future. Support from the National ANS hierarchy would greatly help promote and expand this program. The student section of ANS – Nevada has presented a Nuclear Science Merit Badge workshop for both Boy and Girl Scouts for more than 12 years. This program has been very successful in getting the word out to future citizens as well as their parents (http://www.ans.org/pi/edu/). 3. The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), Southern Nevada Chapter (NDIA/SNV) - Although organized about one year ago, this section has reached to the top levels of the DoD through the local Nellis AFB and Creech AFB leadership. The issue of primary concern in the local area is assured power for Creech AFB. The president of NDIA (Retired General Hawk Carlisle) has been to Nevada to emphasize the importance of assured energy to the group and to discuss its implications all the way to the Secretary of Defense. Leaders at Creech AFB have been involved in planning to become a prototype site for a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) for their assured energy program. NDIA/NV has inspired these discussions and has organized technical meetings in support of this program. Website: https://ndia-snv.org/. Page 2 of 4
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