October 25, 2015

DOE Cancels Idaho SNF Research Shipments

By ExchangeMonitor
The Department of Energy canceled last week the first of two shipments of research commercial spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory. Controversy erupted earlier this year when DOE sought a waiver that would allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho, but Idaho officials would only allow it if cleanup milestones at Idaho National Laboratory were met. The fuel shipments would be necessary to support Department’s high burnup fuel study, conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute, but delays from the state caused the Department to decide the material to another unidentified location. “I’m disappointed that a shipment of spent fuel rods is being taken to a facility other than the Idaho National Laboratory,” Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said in a statement. “There is no doubt in my mind that INL is the appropriate place for this important research. But even more disappointing is the Department of Energy’s decision not to participate in direct and meaningful negotiations that could have led to a resolution that served the interests of all parties.” DOE has yet to identify where it will conduct the research project following the INL cancellation. 

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NEW: Via public records request, I’ve been able to confirm reporting today that a warrant has been issued for DOE deputy asst. secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition Sam Brinton for another luggage theft, this time at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid airport. (cc: @EMPublications)

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