A defense-only repository would prove cost effective and time efficient compared to comingling it with commercial waste, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said in a May 15 letter to House Energy leaders, released late last week. House lawmakers questioned the wisdom behind the decision to “de-comingle” the two waste streams, calling it a distraction for DOE from completing its waste disposal obligations. Moniz, though, backed the decision due to the simpler design that the cooler, finite inventory of defense waste provides. “Moving forward with a defense high-level radioactive waste repository that may have a simpler design and present fewer licensing challenges in the near-term could reduce the overall cost and time required to develop future repositories through the experience gained in design, siting, licensing, and development,” Moniz wrote. “The decision to move forward with planning for a separate defense repository does represent a significant change in our nuclear waste management policy, but I believe it is well justified in light of the changed circumstances, experience gained, and lessons learned over the last 30 years.”
Moniz also included in his letter a breakdown of the amount of defense funds appropriated into the Nuclear Waste Fund to help pay for defense waste disposal. House leaders were critical of the de-comingling because of the wasted defense funds. “With respect to funds spent to date for activities related to the disposal of defense waste, a total of $3.7 billion was appropriated from Fiscal Year 1993 through Fiscal Year 2010 under the Defense Nuclear Waste Disposal account for activities carried out under the nuclear waste program,” Moniz said. “The funding was in part to support activities related to Yucca Mountain, but also to support activities associated with an integrated waste management system including transportation planning and infrastructure improvement.”
