Federal energy regulators have announced that they are spending $26 million to find communities willing to accept a temporary federal site to store spent nuclear fuel while a permanent repository is completed.
Thirteen groups made up of industry, academic, nonprofit, government and community representatives will each get $2 million to explore the most equitable approach to picking an interim site to store highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, according to a recent news release from the U.S. Energy Department. The approach will include a dialogue with residents and local governments, the department said.
This study is being conducted with the aim of creating a federal storage site independent of the two private sites proposed for southern New Mexico and Texas, which are embroiled in heated political and legal battles.
NEW REACTOR AT GA NUCLEAR PLANT BEGINS SPLITTING ATOMS FOR THE 1ST TIME
Steam rises out of a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania on March 26, 2019. The U.S. Energy Department is spending millions of dollars to help find a temporary site to store radioactive spent fuel. (Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
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The lack of a permanent disposal site has created a dilemma for the federal government as it seeks a temporary hub to move the spent fuel piling up at 70 nuclear power plants in three dozen states.
Those who oppose temporary waste sites in their areas contend federal law — and now a newly passed New Mexico law — require a permanent repository to exist or at least be in the works before an interim one can be built.
