An infrared photo showing the thermal heat of a German CASTOR cask filled with irradiated nuclear fuel being transported by rail to centralized interim storage in Gorleben, Germany. The high-level radioactivity, not the thermal heat, is the hazard to human health, safety, and the environment, however.In a press release from the U.S. Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, its Republican Chairman and Ranking Democrat claim to be "Solving the Nuclear Waste Stalemate," and that their "bill includes a pilot program for consolidated nuclear waste storage, introduced by [U.S. Senator Lamar] Alexander [(R-TN)] and ranking member U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). It also includes language that allows DOE to store nuclear waste at private facilities that are licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC]."
Waste Control Specialists, LLC in Andrews County, western Texas, is poised to apply for a construction and operating license to NRC, perhaps yet this month.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has held three "Consent-Based Siting" meetings thus far, with six more to go around the country.
By as early as 2021, DOE hopes to ram through approval for the first of one or more parking lot dumps, targeted at such additional sites as Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, New Mexico (WIPP, not far from WCS), other DOE sites, Native American reservations, and/or nuclear power plants such as Dresden in Illinois.
This would launch unprecedented thousands of Mobile Chernobyls, Floating Fukushimas, and Dirty Bombs on Wheels, onto the roads, rails, and/or waterways of most states. (Also see Beyond Nuclear's Waste Transportation website section, for more information.)
DOE will accept public comments until July 31st.
Learn more, including what you can do, at Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste website section.