The U.S. Department of Energy announced $26 million in funding Friday to aid in the search for locations to temporarily store nuclear waste.
The materials will be moved from sites such as the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, who visited the power plant, on Friday, announced that 13 groups from across the country would receive funding and be tasked with helping identify feasible sites to store the spent nuclear fuel.
A “consent-based siting” approach will be taken in the search, which energy officials say will include communities willing to host nuclear storage facilities. Officials will attempt to answer questions, address concerns and “develop an understanding so that we are good neighbors even before moving in,” Granholm said in a statement.
“It is vital that, as DOE works to be good stewards of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, we do right by communities in the siting process and (include) them in the decision-making at the outset,” she said Granholm.
The project awardees, which will receive around $2 million each, will engage with communities and gather public feedback. The groups were selected from 12 states and the District of Columbia, but are not expected to confine their search efforts for to their home states.
Those awarded grants from California and the West include:
- Arizona State University
- Good Energy Collective
- Mothers for Nuclear and Tribal Consent Based Coalition – Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, in partnership with North Carolina State University
“While there is much more work to do, this is real progress towards removing San Onofre’s spent fuel,” said Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, whose district include parts of San Diego and Orange counties. He joined Granholm at San Onofre for Friday’s announcement.
The plant stopped producing electricity in 2012 and is in the process of being dismantled.
Nearly 3.6 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel remains stored at the plant and concerns persist over the plant’s proximity to the ocean and the potential for the site to be affected by rising sea levels, tsunami and seismic hazards.
– City News Service
