DOE adjusts its plans for nuclear waste storage

Nature : On 24 March Department of Energy (DOE) secretary Ernest Moniz announced that the agency was looking for a variety of temporary localized sites for nuclear waste storage. The agency will also continue its search for a permanent, geologically stable location for long-term storage of nuclear weapons waste. Moniz says that the key to the localized sites is that the agency will be seeking consent-based locations instead of attempting to force storage sites into areas where the local population does not want them. The DOE’s new plan, with President Barack Obama’s approval, also frees commercial and military waste to be stored in separate locations. Thanks to the policy change, waste repositories will no longer have to be equipped to store waste that has different requirements and risks. The DOE’s 2016 budget proposal includes funding for an experimental borehole for long-term storage. The agency also plans to begin evaluating potential storage sites for commercial waste, but construction of such facilities would require approval from Congress.