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By Teresa Hansen, Power Engineering Associate Editor and Nuclear Power On-line Editor
The debate about what to do with spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste has been going on for years and still neither side seems to be ready to settle the argument. Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Bush administration are attempting once again to make the proposed Yucca Mountain repository a reality.
On March 6, the DOE submitted legislation to Congress aimed at enhancing the nation's ability to manage and dispose of commercial spent nuclear fuel and defense related high-level radioactive waste. The legislation arrived on Capitol Hill on the same day that the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement resolving Duke Energy's spent fuel litigation against the DOE.
In a letter to Congress accompanying the administration bill, the "Nuclear Fuel Management and Disposal Act," Samual Bodman, Secretary of Energy, wrote that the administration is committed to advancing development of the Yucca Mountain repository. He said that Congress should remember "three key facts":
1. Expansion of nuclear power in the United States is a critical energy security and national security priority.
2. To ensure nuclear expansion, the United States must have a repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
3. In 2002, Congress and the President agreed with the passing and signing of Public Law 107-200 that Yucca Mountain is the appropriate location for the repository, subject to licensing by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Opposition
This latest Yucca Mountain proposal is identical to the proposal the DOE submitted to the House and Senate last year, with the exception of technical amendments to one section, Bodman said. Last year's bill stalled in Senate committee and was never brought to a vote. In an attempt to move the Yucca Mountain repository forward without the passage of that bill, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) introduced the Nuclear Waste Acceleration to Yucca bill in September 2006, proposing interim nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain. The bill did not reach the Senate floor before the 2006 session ended.
Bills involving Yucca Mountain face stiff opposition from Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who is also the Senate Majority Leader. According to a story published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal last November 9, Sen. Reid said bills that would allow nuclear waste to be sent to Nevada on an early schedule, or that would speed land withdrawals, permits and licenses, would never see the Senate floor.
Sen. Reid's feelings about Yucca Mountain obviously haven't softened as he wasted no time this year in countering the DOE's latest proposal. On the same day that Bodman sent the DOE's latest bill to Congress, Sens. Reid and John Ensign, R-Nev., countered with legislation that would require nuclear waste to stay at the reactor sites.
Financial Liabilities
Storing spent nuclear fuel at the reactor sites, as Reid and Ensign proposed is another issue that Bodman's letter to Congress addressed. The Secretary said that Yucca Mountain's "expeditious licensing and development" is necessary to address the federal government's own liability associated with delays in opening the repository. The March 6 settlement agreement involving Duke reinforced the importance of that point.
Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, the DOE became obligated to accept and dispose of spent nuclear fuel from the nation's nuclear generating facilities and it was required to enter into contracts with commercial nuclear generating facilities. The Duke Energy lawsuit stems from the federal government's failure to meet its contractual obligations.
The Duke Energy agreement requires the DOE to pay the nuclear power plant owner $56 million for certain storage costs incurred through July 31, 2005. It also dictates that the DOE pay Duke additional amounts annually for future storage costs.
"This agreement is an important positive step for our company and the federal government," said Brew Barron, Duke Energy's chief nuclear officer, in a Duke Energy news release about the settlement. "It clarifies specific costs the DOE will pay associated with the delay in meeting its obligation for used fuel disposal. This ensures our ratepayers and shareholders do not bear the full financial burden of these delays."
Duke Energy is not the only nuclear power plant owner to file suit against the government. More than 60 lawsuits have been filed to date and the federal government has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle some of these claims, Bodman said in his letter to Congress. In addition to the Duke Energy settlement, the government has paid approximately $214 million in three settlements and one judgment and has filed notices of appeal of two other judgments totaling approximately $190 million. Bodman said the DOE estimates that the Government's liability on the spent fuel disposal issue is approaching $7 billion and it will continue to grow.
Schedule
The 1982 legislation became law with the expectation that a national repository would begin accepting spent nuclear fuel in 1998. Estimates now put Yucca Mountain's completion date as 2017. Last July, the DOE issued an updated timeline and target date for the repository's opening. The following shows the latest target dates:
Design for License Application Complete - November 30, 2007
Licensing Support Network Certification - December 21, 2007
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIC) Issued - May 30, 2008
Final Rail Alignment EIS Issued - June 30, 2008
License Application Submitted to NRC - June 30, 2008
License Application Docketed by NRC - September 30, 2008
Start Nevada Rail Construction - October 5, 2008
NRC Authorizes Repository Construction - September 30, 2011
Receive and Possess License from NRC - March 29, 2013
Rail Access In Service - June 30, 2014
Construction Complete for Initial Operations - March 30, 2016
Start up and Pre-op Testing Complete - December 31, 2016
Begin Receiving Waste - March 31, 2017
Source: The Eureka County Nuclear Waste Update, Eureka County Yucca Mountain Information Office
Successfully meeting this new timeline hinges on resolving political, legal and financial issues related to Yucca Mountain. The new schedule was created based on the assumption that Congress will appropriate the necessary funding and that the NRC will complete its review and license the project within three years of receiving the license application.
Costs
Ward Sproat, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said it will cost $18.5 billion to open the repository by 2017 and to finish the transportation routes to the facility. Another $8.4 billion will be needed to operate the repository through 2023. Sproat said that would bring the total amount needed in the next 15 to 16 years to almost $27 billion. Continued operation beyond 2023 would require additional funding.
These estimates, released by Sproat's office on March 16, were in response to a request made last July by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The request came after Sproat submitted the new timeline delaying the opening date from 2010 to 2017.
The Battle Continues
All Nevada lawmakers in Washington are on record as opposing the Yucca Mountain project. The latest cost estimates provide them with more ammunition to fight the project because the $27 billion estimate is much less than the DOE's previous estimate of $57.6 billion, which was the figure the DOE gave as the total life-cycle cost several years ago when the projected completion date was 2010.
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., was quoted in an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on March 17, saying, "The DOE's new partial budget estimate is sheer fantasy based on legislation that will never pass and a timetable that is about as realistic as the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and the ghost of Elvis."
The same article quoted Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., as saying the cost projections show why Congress and the Bush administration need to put an end to what he referred to as a "reckless waste of taxpayer funds."
Obviously, the Yucca Mountain fight is not over. The opposing sides are simply beginning another round in the ring.
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