New Mexico’s chances of hosting a high-level rad waste site look like they just went up

With the departure of Jeff Bingaman from the US Senate, the chances that the nation will solve its nuclear waste problems for the foreseeable future with a large, “temporary” waste storage site look like they just went up. Writing in The Hill, Zack Colman reports that Bingaman’s replacement on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, is open to the idea:

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) says he would be open to moving nuclear waste from high-risk reactors to interim storage sites.

The incoming Senate Energy and Natural Resources chairman’s stance, which differs from current Chairman Jeff Bingaman’s (D-N.M.), could help revive efforts to address the nation’s nuclear waste management.

Bingaman sought to prohibit storing spent nuclear fuel at temporary storage sites until steps were taken to establish a permanent, long-term repository. That position led to nuclear waste talks breaking down this Congress.

As I wrote back in October, a coalition in southeast New Mexico has begun organizing a bid to host such a radioactive waste site. It would take waste from US nuclear power plants, which is currently stored at the power plant sites. With the Obama administration’s decision to kill the Yucca Mountain waste site in Nevada, the waste currently has no place to go.

One suggested solution is a centralized “interim” storage site, which the SE NM people would like to host. Bingaman’s fear has been that without a simultaneous commitment to a permanent disposal path, “interim” would become permanent. With his departure from the Senate, Wyden appears comfortable now with a different approach.