U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said this week that the the government would begin a consent-based process this year for the purpose of siting two nuclear waste repositories, one for high level defense radioactive waste and one for one for spent fuel originating from commercial operations.
Moniz also said that the Department of Energy would not need any new Congressional authority to proceed with the plan to site the facilities, although it would need legislative authority to construct them.
President Obama, said Moniz, had authorized the DOE to initiate development of a repository for high-level defense waste that would be separate from commercial waste.
In a fact sheet, the DOE said a repository for waste from defense programs "could have a simpler design and could present fewer licensing and transportation challenges," given the department no longer produces high level radioactive waste from weapons production.
Moniz revealed the plan to reporters before addressing the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington on Tuesday.
Congress would also have to approve of construction of any temporary storage facility, the need for which is based on expectations of upcoming plant decommissioning.
In a parallel event, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., introduced a bill Tuesday that would allow states to compete for the opportunity to be the host of nuclear waste repositories.
Lamar said 60 percent of the country's non-polluting electricity generation comes from nuclear power. To preserve that, waste repositories would have to be built, he said.
The proposed legislation assigns repository build costs to utilities. It also would create a new federal agency for dealing with nuclear waste, separating it from the DOE.