GAO recommends Department of Energy reconsider nuclear waste plans
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently recommended, based on a review conducted by GAO, that the Department of Energy (DOE) reconsider its plans to develop two separate nuclear waste repositories.
GAO recommended that DOE assess benefits, cost and schedule estimates and reassesses its decision to conduct site selection activities.
DOE had planned to store nuclear waste at a single repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, which would have been funded largely by commercial power fees. Though that plan was terminated in 2010, DOE considered developing separate commercial and defense repositories.
In 2015, DOE provided information to the President supporting their plan to develop the two repositories, one for commercial spent nuclear fuel and one for defense high-level waste. The President approved DOE’s recommendation and DOE began working towards developing the sites.
GAO found DOE’s cost-benefit analysis unreliable, because it left out significant costs. GAO also found that DOE’s schedule estimates did not provide information on how those schedules would be achieved.
It was recommended that DOE stop siting activities before certain prerequisite planning activities were finished, which include updating health and safety regulations.
DOE agreed on the need for further assessment but disagreed on the need to reconsider site selection benefits, citing benefits of the approach. DOE has not yet taken any actions in response to GAO’s recommendations.
