Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi / Axios
As the Trump administration begins seeking how to get rid of nuclear waste, one group of experts has a suggestion: Start with a burial site that takes only defense-generated waste.
Why it matters: With nuclear power gaining wider public acceptance, some in Congress and elsewhere agree that determining what to do with radioactive leftovers over the long term must become a bigger piece of the puzzle.
- The lone U.S. repository — New Mexico's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant — is barred from burying high-level waste.
Driving the news: President Trump's nuclear executive orders last week called on the Energy Department and other agencies to submit a report within 240 days for a national nuclear waste management policy.
- "We think this 'waste report' could serve as a presidential recommendation for congressional action next year," ClearView Energy Partners said.
Context: The Obama, Trump and Biden administrations' decision to mothball Nevada's Yucca Mountain to bury commercial reactors' spent fuel has largely stalled the commercial waste-storage debate.
- Biden officials pursued a "consent-based siting" process that seeks to find volunteers to host a site. But it's unclear whether and how Trump will continue the process.
Zoom in: Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy convened a roundtable with industry officials and experts to discuss burying defense high-level waste and spent fuel before tackling commercial waste.
- In a report last week, it cited a 2015 Energy Department study.
- That study concluded that "a strong basis exists" for a defense-only repository and that it could be done faster than developing a commercial one.
What they're saying: "If you had another repository up and running, that's some progress, and it gives us experience doing consent-based siting" for a commercial site, said Matt Bowen, a Columbia research scholar who helped lead the roundtable.
