Idaho will only accept into the state spent nuclear fuel needed for Department of Energy research studies should the Department resolve its 1995 Settlement Agreement noncompliance issues with the state, according to a Jan. 9 letter from Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter (R). Idaho environmental regulators last week penalized DOE for its failure to empty underground tanks at the Idaho site of liquid radioactive waste after delays at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit caused DOE to miss its deadlines. “Nonetheless, Idaho remains supportive of the type of research described in your letter and will grant a one-time, conditional waiver to allow receipt of the proposed shipments at INL if DOE and Idaho were able to agree upon an enforceable commitment and time frame for timely resolving the 1995 Settlement Agreement noncompliance issues,” Otter said in his letter to Energy secretary Ernest Moniz.
Moniz wrote to Otter on Dec. 31 seeking a waiver to enable the waste to enter the state so DOE could conduct its studies, which have a time sensitive start date. DOE has two planned studies of spent nuclear fuel at the Idaho National Laboratory: one looking at the technical, economic, and nonproliferation aspects of electrochemical recycling of commercial light water reactor fuels and the other studying the long-term effects of high burnup fuel storage. Moniz highlighted the economic benefits of the studies. “The funding associated with these research projects is expected to be about $10-20 million annually to the INL through approximately the end of this decade,” Moniz wrote. He added, “Your support of INL’s researchers and unique capabilities has been instrumental in the commercial industry’s confidence to conduct this research in Idaho. The research from these projects is highly important to the nation’s nuclear industry and aligns very well with the type of work envisioned when the MOA was approved in 2011.”
