Idaho Sen. Jim Risch (R) voiced support on Tuesday for shipping spent nuclear fuel into the state for research at the Idaho National Laboratory, according to local reports. Risch’s endorsement comes as the state appears to be on deadline to decide whether it wants to host the material. “If this isn’t done here at the lab in Idaho, it is going to be done somewhere in America,” Risch said, according to the Idaho Falls Post Register. “And I guarantee you, there are several labs that would very much like to have this work, and hope it will lead to additional work. But we’re ready to do it here, and it needs to be done here.” He later added, “This is not rocket science. This isn’t even a very difficult executive branch problem. This can be done.”
Controversy erupted earlier this year when DOE sought a waiver that would allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho, but state officials would only allow it if cleanup milestones at Idaho National Laboratory were met. The fuel shipments would be necessary to support the department’s high burnup fuel study, conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute. The research is aimed at better understanding the effects of high burnup fuel aging on dry storage cask systems and to support DOE’s ongoing research and development to advance understanding of the long-term aging of spent fuel. A senior DOE official last week said the department has not issued any definitive decision deadlines on the state, but an internal clock within DOE is ticking on whether the department needs to find a new location to conduct the research.