Spent Fuel Transportation: History, Status and State Involvement

Published 2004

LEGISLATORS AND STAFF:

For a free PDF copy:

1. Please LOGIN first to access the PDF.

2. Already logged in? CLICK HERE to access PDF.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Since nuclear weapons production began in the early 1940s, numerous forms of nuclear waste have been generated. Although the true nature of the waste being created was unknown, much of it was stored inappropriately on site at the Department of Energy facilities. As use of nuclear energy became more common, the spent fuel generated during energy production was stored at the reactor sites. In the 1950s, the National Academy of Sciences recommended deep geologic disposal of the long-lived, highly radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors. Buried salt deposits and other rock types were singled out for further investigation for a permanent repository.

Throughout the 1970s, the federal government continued screening sites for a repository, specifically looking at buried salt deposits and federal nuclear facility sites. Not until the congressional enactment of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982, was real progress made in identifying potential sites for the repository. (It also was in 1982, with the enactment of the NWPA, that the federal government assumed responsibility for the ultimate disposal of spent nuclear fuel.) Initially, the act called for two repositories in order to assure regional equity. The Department of Energy began the site screening process by identifying nine potentially acceptable sites. With the 1987 amendments to the act, however, Yucca Mountain, Nevada, was identified as the sole site to be characterized for the nation’s geologic repository.

With the official presidential designation of Yucca Mountain and subsequent approval by Congress in 2002, states have had to acknowledge and address the implications of the siting of the repository. Of all the issues associated with housing the nation’s high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel at one facility, the one of greatest interest to the states is the transportation of the waste to its final resting place. During transportation, there is always the risk of an accident occurring. States want transportation to be carried out in a safe and secure manner to ensure the health and safety of their communities.

Although the federal government is the central regulator of nuclear waste transportation, state governments have an extremely important role to play. States have the ability to ensure that, when a shipment crosses their borders, the likelihood decreases that an accident will occur. They also can ensure that state emergency response personnel are adequately trained and equipped. The better state legislators understand how they fit into the federal transportation regulatory structure, the better able they are to safeguard their citizens.