How do we save $2 million a day…and remove radioactive waste from the country of the earthquake – Silicon Valley

Memo to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy: We can imagine how excited you are to be starring in “Honey, I've Shrunk the Government!” We doubt you'd frown upon the idea of ​​creating an entirely new agency, sprouting like thin green tendrils from the federal forest, but we're here to argue that's wrong.

If you really care about government efficiency, this is a no-brainer: immediately stop the half-century of federal indecision that has allowed highly radioactive nuclear waste to pile up in neighborhoods across the country, red and blue alike.

US Government Accountability Office map of sites storing spent nuclear waste in the United States.

This paralysis has already cost us taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, and it will cost us tens of billions more – even if we agree to a solution at this very moment.

Think about it: The federal government has already paid nearly $11 billion to the utilities that own these reactors, to cover their unforeseen costs of storing and protecting these things. That means $2 million every day that there is no federal nuclear waste repository!

Millions of pounds of it sit at San Onofre, Diablo Canyon, and dozens of other commercial nuclear plants across America, even though the feds were contractually obligated to pick up the stuff for final disposal in 1998.

1998!

This paralysis is ridiculous and expensive, but there is a bipartisan bill recently introduced by U.S. Reps. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) and August Pfluger (R-Texas), and co-sponsored by Scott Peters (D-San Diego). , suggests a way to change that.

Archive photo of Yucca Mountain, 2015. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Their plan would also prioritize removing “stranded waste” from closed sites like San Onofre, where 3.6 million pounds of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel lies in a Pacific side seismic zone inhabited by nearly 8 million people.

If the United States wants to triple the amount of nuclear energy in America by 2050 to help deal with growing energy demand, it's foolish to think about that when we still don't have a plan to deal with waste, right?

“I said this ad nauseam, but San Onofre is just a symptom of a much larger problem,” Levine said. “We lack any disposal site or repository, anywhere, and we have an increasing amount of spent nuclear fuel. Especially if they succeed in scaling up nuclear power, we have to address the back end of the fuel cycle.”

Single focus

The Nuclear Waste Management Act of 2024 would take all responsibility away from the Department of Energy (which has spent more than $10 billion on the dying Yucca Mountain over decades) and create a new organization, dedicated solely to solving the problem of nuclear waste storage and disposal. .

This was recommended by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future ten years ago, and by at least millions of experts before and after that. Republicans and Democrats alike have praised the concept.

An aerial view of the entrance to Yucca Mountain (New York Times photo)

“It's about insulating this agency from the political process so that it can pursue a long-term strategy that doesn't get jeopardized with every new election,” Levin said.

“Locating a waste facility and getting it up and running — that takes decades and it takes continuity. You can't do it. Bill Clinton wants to do this, then George Bush wants to do it, then (Barack) Obama, (Donald) Trump, (Joe) ) Biden and Trump again – it's not working “The very trust you need to build to get this done has been defeated,” he continued.

The other big hurdle is financing. Right now, that depends on the Department of Energy's budget, presidential preferences, and shifting congressional priorities. It ebbs and flows and must be reframed, re-evaluated, and put into intense competition with all other things.

The solution is clear and straightforward in the bill: It frees the new agency from having to constantly borrow money by allowing it to benefit from the huge annual interest on the proceeds of the $47.7 billion Nuclear Waste Fund, which is now prohibited.

This interest totaled $1.7 billion last year.

What exactly is the Nuclear Waste Fund, and how did it get $47.7 billion? We'll explain all that in a minute. First, let's think about what the bill would do.

Uranium extraction to extract (or extract) uranium ore, and concentrate (or grind) the ore to produce uranium ore concentrate, sometimes called U3O8 or “yellowcake”.
Conversion of uranium ore concentrate to uranium hexafluoride (UF6); Enrichment to increase the concentration of uranium-235 (U235) in uranium hexafluoride; The disassembly process to reduce risks associated with depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), or “tailings,” produced in the early stages of the fuel cycle; Fuel manufacturing to convert natural and enriched uranium hexafluoride into uranium dioxide or uranium metal alloys for use as fuel for nuclear reactors. This step also includes the manufacture of mixed oxide fuel.
Fuel use in reactors (nuclear power, research or marine propulsion)
Temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel
Reprocessing (or recycling) of high-level waste nuclear fuel (not currently performed commercially in the United States)[1]
Final disposition (disposal) of used fuel or high-level waste Ask politely

Perhaps most importantly, it incorporates lessons learned from the Yucca Mountain disaster.

Nevada had no nuclear reactors and fought hard to avoid becoming the nation's nuclear waste ground, telling America to take its damned radioactive waste elsewhere, thank you very much. But the federal government went ahead anyway. It was a huge waste of time and money.

The new bill would require informed consent from local residents before warehouses can be located. There will be facts, studies, public meetings and transparency.

All of this will be overseen by an executive appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a six-year term.

There would be an independent oversight board to monitor spending and progress, also appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. It will consist of five members, and no more than three can be from the same political party.

It will have a steady source of funding to keep it on track.

Levin has made nuclear waste a focus of his work in Washington over the past five years, co-chairing the Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus with Rep. Chuck Fleischman, R-Tenn. They helped DOE obtain funding to conduct a consent-based siting process, and it is making progress — but there is little DOE can do with the law as it stands. In addition, she has a large number of other responsibilities.

The new agency won't do that.

Southern California Edison's media relations director holds up imitation nuclear fuel pellets like those found inside spent fuel canisters at the San Onofre nuclear power plant. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) What's with that $47.7 billion again?

Back to the nuclear waste bin. Last century, when nuclear power was viewed as the key to our energy future, the federal government aimed to encourage its development.

Enter the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, where the feds promised to accept and dispose of commercial waste by January 31, 1998. In return, customers of the utilities that owned these plants made quarterly payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund to cover the costs of disposal. Costs.

The utilities have stuck to their side of the bargain — pumping about $750 million annually into the fund — while the Department of Energy, unfortunately, has not. More than 40 years later, the Department of Energy still has not accepted a single ounce of commercial nuclear waste for permanent disposal.

The utility, unexpectedly stuck sitting on the waste, sued the Department of Energy for breach of contract and won. Along the way, a federal judge concluded that the Department of Energy could not charge for permanent waste disposal, a service it not only did not provide but would not provide for several decades.

So, in 2014, consumers across America finally stopped paying into the nuclear waste fund. But they probably didn't notice that much. The fees were small (about a tenth of a cent for every kilowatt-hour generated by nuclear power), equivalent to about 20 cents a month on the average electricity bill. But it clearly added more. That's $47.7 billion.

In the end, it all boils down to this: The federal government is legally responsible for the safe management of spent nuclear fuel, Levin, Pfluger and Peters say in their introductory book to the bill. The Nuclear Waste Management Act of 2024 would provide a safe, consent-based path to finally getting the job done — and ultimately stopping the $2 million-a-day hemorrhage.

“If you want to get out of a hole, stop digging,” Levin said.

Originally Posted: November 18, 2024 at 4:58 AM PT

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