U.S. Energy Department Allocates $26 Million for Consent-Based Siting to Manage Spent Nuclear Fuel

The U.S. Energy Department on June 9 announced grants totaling $26 million to thirteen university, nonprofit, and private-sector teams across twelve states and the District of Columbia to support the implementation of the consent-based siting for the storage and disposal of spent fuel. The project teams, representing diverse geographic and institutional backgrounds, will receive $2 million to each. The department and its consortia are committed to maintaining transparency and garnering local support as they work with communities. Concurrently, the department is making significant progress in research and development efforts for the long-term management of nuclear fuel, which is pivotal to achieving the Biden administration’s targets of a 100 percent clean electric grid by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050.

Consent-based siting is a community-based approach to selecting facility locations that prioritizes the needs and concerns of communities, while emphasizing equity and environmental justice. This approach allows communities to actively participate in the decision-making process through various phases and steps in collaboration with the department. These steps include planning and capacity building, site screening and assessment, and negotiation and implementation. Currently, the DOE is in the initial stage of the process and, accordingly, is not actively seeking volunteer communities to host federal consolidated interim storage facilities as part of the mentioned funding opportunity. This indicates that the focus is on laying the groundwork and building capacity for the consent-based siting approach.

DOE announced $38 million for a dozen projects in 2022 to pursue efforts to lower the impacts of light-water reactor used nuclear fuel disposal. Used nuclear fuel, also referred to as spent nuclear fuel, is created during nuclear energy generation, and can be recycled to make new fuel and by-products that support the deployment of nuclear energy. In October 2022, the department announced the award of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative vouchers to three businesses to help support siting activities of advanced reactors and the development of a new recycling process for spent nuclear fuel. The GAIN initiative seeks to enable the industrial community to commercialize new or advanced nuclear technologies.