A Snapshot of U.S. Spent Fuel Management Policy and Status

In 2009, the United States abandoned its decades-long policy of spent fuel management that envisioned all commercial and defense nuclear waste being permanently disposed of in a deep geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA. Although that policy is still enshrined in law, in January 2013 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new integrated waste management strategy that includes a pilot consolidated interim storage facility that would store spent fuel and reactor-related greater-than Class C (GTCC) waste from so-called stranded locations where the reactor has been decommissioned and all that remains is the spent fuel in dry storage casks at an on-site independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI).1 Following the successful operation of this pilot storage facility, the strategy calls for construction and operation of a large-scale consolidated storage facility that could accept spent fuel and GTCC waste from any commercial reactor site, and a repository that would begin operations around 2048. This strategy is consistent with the 2012 recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on Americas Nuclear Future that President Obama convened after he decided Yucca Mountain was no longer an option.2 At the time DOE released its strategy, the agency said that legislation would be required to implement it; however, three years later, although legislation has been introduced, none has passed, and none is likely to be passed during this election year. As a result, while laws may be passed that will change spent fuel policy in the future, utilities that generate the spent fuel are currently storing it safely at the reactor sites and are planning to continue this approach to spent fuel management indefinitely.