Congress has received the Department of Energy’s report on options for disposal of Greater-Than-Class C and Class-C-Like Waste, setting the stage for legislative approval of the department’s preferred alternative.
The Energy Department projects the United States will hold roughly 12,000 cubic meters of GTCC low-level radioactive waste and GTCC-like waste by 2083. That would be 160 million curies of radioactivity, encompassed in three waste types: activated metals produced in decommissioning of nuclear power plants; sealed sources used in medical, industrial, and oil and gas exploration operations; and other waste such as contaminated scrap metal, filters, soil, and sludge.
The federal government is ultimately on the hook for disposing of this waste, but to date has no facility designated for that purpose. In a February 2016 environmental impact statement, DOE laid out five disposal options, and selected as its preferred method a combination of disposal at generic commercial facilities and the department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
“Full waste emplacement at WIPP are not expected until the 2021 timeframe, and therefore the Department is primarily considering disposal at generic commercial facilities,” the November DOE report says. “The preferred alternative does not include disposal at any DOE sites other than WIPP.”
Disposal at WIPP is projected to cost $1,630 per cubic foot to build 26 additional rooms at the underground mine, for a total cost of $690 million in 2016 dollars. That is higher than the other options considered for disposal at a number of DOE sites: intermediate-depth borehole ($400 million), enhanced near-surface trench $($300 million), and above-grade vault ($620 million). The fifth alternative was no action.
Fee options for funding disposal involve having waste generators pay into a fund at the time of waste generation or charging a fee when the waste is delivered for disposal, DOE said in its report.
Congress would have to take a number of steps to allow DOE’s preferred disposal method to proceed, including passing legislation on a cost-recovery system for disposal and for authorization of the waste at WIPP, which is now designated solely for transuranic waste.
