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March 30, 2021
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held an online briefing on nuclear energy issues, including the current economics of the U.S. nuclear power industry, how to approach decommissioning as more civilian reactors shut down, and what to do with their high-level radioactive waste. In particular, the briefing assessed the impacts of extending the licenses of existing nuclear plants and pursuing “advanced reactors” as a way to fight climate change.
As U.S. nuclear plants age out or become unprofitable, the growing number of shuttered reactors has spawned a new decommissioning business model that promises to remediate sites quickly, but also raises new questions about safety, financial assurance, cleanup standards, and waste disposition. Decommissioning companies want to ship highly radioactive spent fuel through 75 percent of Congressional districts to their proposed consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs) in New Mexico and Texas, which overburdened residents there oppose. Congress will likely be asked to change basic provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act this year to enable CISFs. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to lengthen the duration of license extensions for operating nuclear plants, potentially allowing them to keep running and generating radioactive waste for more than 80 years.
To help inform major decisions on nuclear energy policy facing Congress, the briefing pointed out gaps in current research and data, federal policy, and regulatory oversight, and what can be done to fill them. It examined how some other countries safeguard their radioactive waste, and offered practical recommendations to help make pending U.S. policy and regulatory decisions about nuclear energy more evidence-based, and better aligned with science and environmental justice.
These highlights include clarifications and added context for clarity that were not originally part of the oral presentations. These additions are enclosed in brackets.
Introduction by EESI Executive Director Daniel Bresette.
Tim Judson, Executive Director, Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Leona Morgan, Co-founder, Nuclear Issues Study Group; Diné or Navajo community organizer and leading advocate for communities in New Mexico impacted by consolidated interim storage facilities and uranium mining
Paul Gunter, Director of the Reactor Oversight Project, Beyond Nuclear
Ben Wealer, Research Associate in Nuclear Power Economics, Berlin Institute of Technology; Guest Researcher, DIW Berlin (German Institute for Economic Research)
Amory Lovins, Adjunct Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
Q&A Session
Today was the first meeting of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Climate change challenges and solutions will obviously be central to this council. Do you have any comments about this first meeting and any suggestions to the people participating in it?
We have heard about the issue of nuclear decommissioning from a lot of perspectives. It is worth reconsidering nuclear power as a climate solution. Yet, the issue is dynamic and things change over time. Thinking toward the future, are there policy, economic, and technological developments you are looking for with respect to nuclear generation?
Conclusion by EESI Executive Director Daniel Bresette
Highlights compiled by Hamzah Jhaveri and Celine Yang
Video | Nuclear Waste 101: Fifteen-minute Introduction and Overview by Dr. Gordon Edwards (President, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility) Slides for Nuclear Waste 101