Report: Commission will outline above-ground nuclear waste strategy

A commission established by the Energy Department to find a path forward for dealing with the country’s nuclear waste will recommend storing it in above-ground containers, The New York Times reports.

The commission will outline a draft recommendation at a meeting Friday calling for “establishing one or more sites where used reactor fuel could be stored in steel and concrete structures on the earth’s surface for decades,” the Times says.

The Times says the commission will also outline steps toward determining a more permanent waste storage solution in the aftermath of the Obama administration’s decision to abandon a proposed permanent waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

More from the Times:

“The commission will also recommend opening a new effort to find a burial site, members said, and suggest that it be led by an organization that is independent of the Department of Energy, which has been working on the waste disposal effort for decades.

“Commission members say they will suggest securing the assent of local and state governments before a burial site is chosen. With a selection process that is based more on science than politics and the promise of local economic benefit, a host site could potentially be found, some of them said.”

The recommendations come as Republicans have set their sights on the administration’s involvement in shutting down Yucca Mountain, pointing to a recent report that says the decision will result in a search for a new repository that could take two decades and costs billions of dollars.