Tuesday's announcement that the Department of Energy is looking for other repositories for spent fuel and high-level radioactive nuclear waste has put local officials on opposing sides. Still, all seem to agree on one thing: the Savannah River Site likely will be viewed as a possible storage facility.
President Barack Obama authorized the U.S. Department of Energy to search for separate material repositories for radioactive nuclear weapon-related waste and spent nuclear fuel rods from commercial electric generation - potentially reversing a decades-long plan to dispose of them together.
That plan was going to come by way of Yucca Mountain - a volcanic structure near the former Nevada Test Site - about 100 miles from Las Vegas. But Obama ordered work on Yucca to cease in 2010, after more than $13 billion of work was spent on the project.
Now, despite the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently green-lighting Yucca as a safe location for a repository, the administration is working with DOE to find other facilities.
According to John Kotek, an official from the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, officials believe finding and building a repository for the vitrified defense waste, which is less radioactive and more stable than the spent fuel rods, could be completed more quickly if it is handled separately.
No potential locations have been mentioned yet, but Chuck Munns, the chairman of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, said SRS has "significant potential for consideration." Munns said the announcement is a good initiative to move the issue forward.
He added that in his opinion, the number of repositories for the mixed/combined storage issue is insignificant. What is significant, he said, is to put in place a strategy for used nuclear fuel and defense waste
"Many will decry the indication that we might be walking away from Yucca mountain," Munns said. "I hope we don't; it would be a huge waste of national resources. But in the end, we are a democracy, and if our system decides that Yucca is no longer politically possible, then we should quickly determine the new strategy and get at making it a reality."
Munns agreed with DOE that the issue will be part of a long, process and that it's still too premature to make judgements on what should be done.
Still, others such as Tom Clements, the director of SRS Watch, are already leading a charge in dismissing SRS as a potential landing spot.
"Some may once again propose SRS as a so-called interim storage site for commercial spent fuel, but it's clear, given the strong opposition to bringing more low-level waste to the Barnwell site, that the public doesn't want a spent-fuel storage site at SRS or anywhere else in the area," Clements said.
He went on to reference a position paper submitted by the site's Citizens Advisory Board in 2013. The board took a stance against SRS becoming an interim site for spent fuel, stating that the federal government should reconsider Yucca Mountain. "DOE's poor track record when it comes to pursuit of a single repository speaks volumes and is a clear warning that DOE is not capable of pursuing two repositories at the same time," Clements added.
According to Tuesday's announcement, DOE will first work with various communities and states to determine what a consent based process looks like. Munns said SRS should be a part of that process and use its experience in the field to help decide how various communities, states and federal agencies would come together and consent on a specific project. He added, "With more than 60 years of experience, we have the full spectrum of capable work force - a technical college, a local university, the presence of many of our nation's major nuclear and environmental management companies, skilled labor and management to include new hires, existing workforce and experienced retirees. I know of no other region with all these credentials." Under the DOE plan, defense waste from three weapons-related facilities - SRS, the Hanford Site in Washington state and Idaho National Lab - would be sent to a repository. Together, the facilities house an estimated 23,294 canisters of glassified waste, with SRS holding 7,824 canisters.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter.