NWTRB asks DOE, Congress to take action on geologic repository

The NWTRB, in a letter sent on March 18 to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate President Chuck Grassley, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, said it was “restating and expanding on observations that we have made in the past that relate directly to the technical and scientific activities essential for a successful program for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.”

NWTRB chair Peter Swift signed the letter, which included contributions from members Richelle Allen-King, Ronald Ballinger, Lake Barrett, Miles Greiner, Silvia Jurisson, Nathan Siu, Seth Tuler, Scott Tyler, and Brian Woods.

In January, the White House Office of Personnel Management sent a letter to all NWTRB members asking them to resign or be terminated. As of this writing, the NWTRB said it was still waiting for clarification from the White House regarding the status of its members.

The NWTRB was established by the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987 to evaluate the technical and scientific validity of DOE activities related to managing and disposing of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. The NWPA requires the board to report its findings, conclusions, and recommendations to Congress and the secretary of energy.

Key takeaways: In addition to the recommendation that the DOE and Congress move forward on a permanent disposal facility, the NWTRB presented the following formal finding and conclusions:

Finding: The nation needs one or more deep geologic repositories for permanent disposal of domestic spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

Conclusion 1: The DOE does not have an effective program, as of December 2024, that could lead to a deep geologic repository.

Conclusion 2: The lack of an effective repository program brings a high risk that ongoing efforts to site one or more federal interim storage facilities will ultimately be unsuccessful.

“We believe that, although each of these points has been made before in various ways by this board and others, they remain important and there is value in restating them now for the new Congress and secretary,” Swift told Nuclear Newswire.

The NWTRB said it is not making policy recommendations regarding a permanent geological disposal facility, but advised that such repository was “essential, and that the national nuclear waste management program will remain stalled until an effective repository program is in place.”