SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- A political, legal and environmental fight is brewing over what to do with spent nuclear fuel. The final decision made by the federal government it may change the direction of the nation’s energy policy.
Last week a Presidential commission recommended in a preliminary draft report that the United States should build one or more above ground storage sites for high level nuclear waste. Lawmakers and environmentalists are already sparring over what to do next. But KTVU has learned the controversy has already cost ratepayers billions of dollars.
If you are an average homeowner, your electric bill includes about 30 to 40 cents each month for a federal fund established 29 years ago under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Almost every electric customer in America pays the same 1/10 cent per kilowatt. The money now totals about $24 billion dollars and is earmarked for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. The problem? No such storage solution currently exists.
The federal government selected Yucca Mountain in Nevada for long-term nuclear waste storage, promising to open it in 1998. But the site has significant environmental problems. Last year, the Obama administration abandoned it pending review by that Blue Ribbon commission. Not one fuel rod of the 72,000 tons of America’s spent nuclear fuel has been stored "long term."
At PG&E's Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near Avila Beach just south of San Luis Obispo -- as well as at every other of the nation’s 104 nuclear power plants -- the spent fuel rods are just piling up. Most of the rods are currently stored in pools of water adjacent to reactors.
Operators say they’re running out of storage and some have been forced to stack hot fuel rods closer to older cooled rods than officials would like. Experts tell us that strategy increases the risk of overheating, boiling off cooling water and possibly triggering a catastrophic fuel rod fire.
"We’re just about out of space in spent fuel pools," said Diablo Canyon Spent Fuel Manager Jearl Strickland. PG&E has begun storing older and cooler spent fuel in dry casks on Diablo Canyon property. The company has filled 12 casks and has ordered 20 more. Strickland said PG&E will need to expand storage this summer.
PG&E and other nuclear operators have sued the US Government to collect money to help pay for this storage. PG&E won $80 million three years ago, and has sued again to collect more. It is a small fraction of the money paid by ratepayers. Federal courts have ruled the Long Term Storage Fund remains a legal obligation.
The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future includes UC Berkeley Nuclear Engineering Chairman Professor Per Peterson. He noted in the draft report that new details were emerging from the Fukushima accident in Japan.
Other commissioners suggested the solution to nuclear waste is straightforward; simply continue to store the spent fuel in expanded pools and casks on site at each power plant. The consensus draft report suggested at least one open-air storage site.
Nuclear power critics say the risks of moving fuel casks to a central repository far outweigh the distributed risk of attack or earthquake damage at each plant.
In July, the Commission is to release a final draft report to include advice from the members. A final report is due January 2012. Nuclear storage is expected to become a major issue in 2012 Federal budget talks that have already begun.
SPECIAL REPORT: Temporary Storage Sites Won't Solve Spent Nuclear Fuel... http://www.ktvu.com/news/27931226/detail.html
Last week a Presidential commission recommended in a preliminary draft report that the United States should build one or more above ground storage sites for high level nuclear waste. Lawmakers and environmentalists are already sparring over what to do next. But KTVU has learned the controversy has already cost ratepayers billions of dollars.
If you are an average homeowner, your electric bill includes about 30 to 40 cents each month for a federal fund established 29 years ago under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Almost every electric customer in America pays the same 1/10 cent per kilowatt. The money now totals about $24 billion dollars and is earmarked for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. The problem? No such storage solution currently exists.
The federal government selected Yucca Mountain in Nevada for long-term nuclear waste storage, promising to open it in 1998. But the site has significant environmental problems. Last year, the Obama administration abandoned it pending review by that Blue Ribbon commission. Not one fuel rod of the 72,000 tons of America’s spent nuclear fuel has been stored "long term."
At PG&E's Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near Avila Beach just south of San Luis Obispo -- as well as at every other of the nation’s 104 nuclear power plants -- the spent fuel rods are just piling up. Most of the rods are currently stored in pools of water adjacent to reactors.
Operators say they’re running out of storage and some have been forced to stack hot fuel rods closer to older cooled rods than officials would like. Experts tell us that strategy increases the risk of overheating, boiling off cooling water and possibly triggering a catastrophic fuel rod fire.
"We’re just about out of space in spent fuel pools," said Diablo Canyon Spent Fuel Manager Jearl Strickland. PG&E has begun storing older and cooler spent fuel in dry casks on Diablo Canyon property. The company has filled 12 casks and has ordered 20 more. Strickland said PG&E will need to expand storage this summer.
PG&E and other nuclear operators have sued the US Government to collect money to help pay for this storage. PG&E won $80 million three years ago, and has sued again to collect more. It is a small fraction of the money paid by ratepayers. Federal courts have ruled the Long Term Storage Fund remains a legal obligation.
The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future includes UC Berkeley Nuclear Engineering Chairman Professor Per Peterson. He noted in the draft report that new details were emerging from the Fukushima accident in Japan.
Other commissioners suggested the solution to nuclear waste is straightforward; simply continue to store the spent fuel in expanded pools and casks on site at each power plant. The consensus draft report suggested at least one open-air storage site.
Nuclear power critics say the risks of moving fuel casks to a central repository far outweigh the distributed risk of attack or earthquake damage at each plant.
In July, the Commission is to release a final draft report to include advice from the members. A final report is due January 2012. Nuclear storage is expected to become a major issue in 2012 Federal budget talks that have already begun.
SPECIAL REPORT: Temporary Storage Sites Won't Solve Spent Nuclear Fuel... http://www.ktvu.com/news/27931226/detail.html
