Targeted waiver will allow new shipments of spent nuclear fuel to Idaho for research

IDAHO FALLS – An agreement that limits the shipment of spent nuclear fuel to Idaho is being waived for research purposes at Idaho National Laboratory.

The State of Idaho and the U.S. Department of Energy, which manages the INL, agreed to a targeted waiver of the 1995 settlement agreement.

The INL made the announcement in a news release to local media Tuesday afternoon.

Josh Jarrell, director of the INL’s Fuel Cycle Science and Technology Division, tells EastIdahoNews.com that the waiver grants an exception to ship a critical high-burnup nuclear fuel cask from a commercial nuclear power plant in Virginia to the Idaho lab.

According to a news release, nuclear reactors nationwide produce 20% of the country’s electricity. The research that comes from this shipment will “enable nuclear reactors across the country to continue to operate” and support licensing for the extended storage of spent fuel at 54 nuclear power plants in 28 states.

As part of the new waiver, INL will also be allowed to safely manage small amounts of spent nuclear fuel from domestic university reactors. Without the waiver, some U.S. universities could have been forced to shut down their research reactors due to limits on spent fuel storage.

The shipment of fuel from the cask is slated to happen in 2027. The shipment of fuel from university reactors will happen separately over the next four to six years.

The targeted waiver was months in the making, Jarrell says, and addresses a national need not envisioned when the settlement agreement was established three decades ago. The agreement resolved a lawsuit filed by the state in response to environmental and health concerns about the disposal of nuclear waste in Idaho. The lawsuit was filed in order to keep Idaho from becoming a dumping ground for the country’s spent nuclear fuel, according to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

“The collaborative effort between the State of Idaho, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Idaho National Laboratory showcases our commitment to advancing nuclear energy research while upholding the goals of the 1995 Settlement Agreement. We are proud to support innovation in nuclear energy that will support national security and energy independence into the future,” Gov. Brad Little says in a news release.

Jarrell says Idaho will experience immediate and longterm benefits as a result of the targeted waiver. Among them are financial benefits.

“It’s at least a 10-year cycle of research — that’s tens of millions of dollars from the federal government that will come to INL to do this work,” he says.

Additional jobs created as a result of the research project is another benefit.

“As the nation’s center for nuclear energy research and development, we look forward to utilizing our unique facilities and expertise to support this critical national need. We are thankful to the Department of Energy and the state of Idaho for entrusting us with the safe and secure execution of our vital mission,” INL Director John Wagner says in a news release.