Nuke Plant spent fuel disposal facility

[JMUCKERHEIDE@delphi.com]

Right, Sandy; and add that DOE has 100s of "excess" structures that have the
known geotechnical and environmental documentation, and the foundations, to
store dry-casks; and they can responsibility for the dry casks at reactor
sites. 

Thanks.

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
jmuckerheide@delphi.com

> The simple answer to the DOE's question is to "stop" the politics, 
> complete the facilities, implement known and well-understood 
> technology, and GET ON WITH IT!
> -------------------------
>   WASHINGTON  - The Energy Department Tuesday  
> officially told electric utilities that it will not be able to 
> start accepting spent fuel from their nuclear power reactors on 
> Jan. 31, 1998, as scheduled. 
>   The department asked the utilities for suggestions on how  
> best to deal with spent nuclear fuel accumulating at reactors 
> around the country. 
>   ``The department understands many generators and owners will  
> be affected by this delay and our uncertainty as to when we will be
> able to accept the spent fuel,'' Daniel Dreyfus, the department's
> director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said
> in a statement. 
>   ``We plan to work with the contract holders to determine how  
> to best address this delay,'' Dreyfus said. 
>   The department was reacting to a federal court decision that  
> the government must start disposing of nuclear waste from 
> commercial reactors starting in 1998 to comply with the Nuclear 
> Waste Policy Act of 1982. 
>   The department decided not to appeal the decision by the  
> U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, but it does 
> not have a site ready to store the fuel, which will be dangerous for
> thousands of years. 
>   The Clinton administration has resisted planning a temporary  
> storage site, saying that might divert resources from building a
> permanent dump which it does not expect to have ready until 2010. 
>   The only site under consideration for the permanent dump is  
> Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a proposal the state of Nevada 
> heatedly opposes. 
>   President Clinton's veto threat helped to kill a Senate bill  
> last session that would have put a temporary storage site at 
> Yucca as well. 
>   ``This underscores the need for Congress to pass legislation  
> that authorizes the development of a federal central storage 
> facility as soon as possible so that the federal government can 
> begin fulfilling its obligation to consumers,'' Joe Colvin, 
> president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said in a statement. 
>   The NEI represents the nuclear power industry.  
>   Colvin said consumers have committed about $13 billion since  
> 1983 through their rates to finance the disposal program, ``yet 
> the DOE (Department of Energy) says it will be unable to begin 
> accepting fuel at a repository until 2010.'' 
>   The NEI says 9 nuclear plants have run out of space in pools  
> for spent fuel and have begun relying on above-ground storage. 
> 
> Sandy Perle