Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are set to meet with Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy officials on June 20 at NRC headquarters.
DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, under the direction of acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy John Kotek, is leading the Obama administration’s replacement for the canceled nuclear waste repository at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. The president envisions a consent-based siting initiative for handling spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste that has been accumulating on-site at American nuclear sites. DOE has laid out a three-stage siting process that includes operation of a pilot storage facility by 2021; one or more larger, interim facilities by 2025; and at least one permanent geologic repository by 2048.
The agenda for the meeting has not yet been released.
Kotek’s office has three more sessions in its series of public meetings nationwide on consent-based siting: Tempe, Ariz., on June 23; Boise, Idaho, on July 14; and Minneapolis, Minn., on July 21.
