A federal nuclear waste agency will take a look at some the Department of Energy’s recent research into long-term geologic storage of radioactive waste in November, according to a press release this week.
During two days of public meetings starting Nov. 3, representatives from DOE’s national labs will present to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) on the agency’s Geologic Disposal Safety Assessment (GDSA) framework, according to the Monday press release. Speakers will describe “advanced simulation capabilities” used in the framework to game out “the post-closure performance of a repository for [spent nuclear fuel] and [high-level waste],” the release said.
The NWTRB will also get an update from DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy on the agency’s spent fuel and waste disposition program, the release said.
More details on next month’s virtual meeting, which will begin at noon Eastern time on both days, will be published one week in advance, NWTRB said.
DOE’s research into aging management at a geologic repository currently lacks a practical application. The nation’s only congressionally authorized site to permanently house spent fuel, Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, has remained effectively mothballed since 2011 when the Barack Obama administration cut funding for the site in the face of significant political pressure from the Silver State led by former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
The Joe Biden administration has also refused to fund anything more than guns and gates for the incomplete Nye County, Nev. repository.
Meanwhile, DOE is planning to soon make overtures about its plan to site a federal interim storage facility for the around 80,000 tons of spent fuel stranded at reactor sites across the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Energy Kathryn Huff told the Government Accountability Office in September that the process would include a request for information later this year.
