The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (the Commission) toured the Savannah River Site (SRS) on January 6, 2011 and held a public meeting on January 7 in Augusta to hear from the local community on policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The Commission is scheduled to submit a draft report concerning the storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and defense spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste to the Secretary of Energy in July 2011 and a final report in January 2012.

Approximately 150-200 people attended the meeting, reportedly, one of the largest turn-outs for a Commission meeting. Local business leaders and elected officials told the presidential panel that abandoning Yucca Mountain was a bad idea, especially as it relates to the Defense high-level waste at SRS which is vitrified into "glass logs" with no other disposition path besides a permanent repository. However, SRS and the community could contribute to this nation, as it has in the past and currently does, by utilizing the great technical capacity, the existing facilities, and the skilled workforce in the community to provide the needed research in advance reprocessing technology for the commercial spent nuclear fuel.

There is opposition to this second idea with the vast majority coming from outside our community. Some are simply opposed to nuclear power and want to disband its use, disregarding that approximately 50% of electric power in SC comes from nuclear power plants. Others, including over 20 who arrived by bus from Asheville, NC wearing anti-nuclear bumper stickers shaped as headbands, do not want commercial spent nuclear fuel traveling on highways near their city, disregarding the fact that extremely dangerous chemicals travel our roads and rails everyday - remember Graniteville. And still others are opposed but offer no clear practical solutions to the problem - they are just against anything nuclear.

 

Also in the audience where several members of the next generation of nuclear workers, they also wore identification stickers supporting nuclear as a clean and safe power source. Several members representing the 6,000 young nuclear professionals across North America in an organization known as North American - Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) spoke during the public comment period. The NA-YGN's members are individuals age 35 and under working throughout the fields of nuclear science and technology. Its members share a personal conviction that nuclear science and technology make important and valuable contributions to our society and will continue to do so in the future.

 

 

Senator Lindsey Graham told the Commission that canceling the project is unfair. "You've taken $1.3 billion in fees from South Carolina to build a hole that we're not going to use," Graham said. "We either want our money back, or we want to use that hole." Senator Graham also said he supports reprocessing because he believes it "makes sense" and "could be achieved in a reasonable period of time." "I'm very willing for the Savannah River Site to be the research and the development facility for the nation to make that idea a reality.''

 

While SRS is good at many things, the site was not designed to be a long-term storage facility for nuclear waste. Brian Tucker, Chamber of Commerce President for North Augusta, S.C., offered the following comments. "We strongly urge this Commission to recommend that a geologic repository be provided. We further urge you to establish Yucca Mountain, which has been called "the most studied piece of real estate on earth", as the required reference point unless and until a technically equal alternative has been identified and approved by the NRC."

 

Danny Black, President of the South Carolina Alliance, representing economic developers in the area told the Commission "Speaking for all of my colleagues in the business of job creation in our region, I want to clearly state that we fully support the Savannah River Site. We appreciate the contributions SRS has made to our region and our nation. And we are confident SRS can play a major role in helping to close the fuel cycle, minimize the volume of waste, and put the country back on track with respect to ultimate disposal."

 

In closing the business leaders panel discussion with the Commission, Dr. Susan Winsor President of Aiken Technical College and representing the local colleges and universities, provided the following comments in reference to the SRSCRO Nuclear Workforce Initiative which she chairs. "Our vision is to prepare as many future employees from the local population through programs offered at the local colleges and universities. This includes workers who will be needed at the Savannah River Site as well as those whose services will be required at commercial nuclear plants in our region."

  

 

In December, the 111th Congress completed the lame duck session, passing a surprising number of items and finally adjourning its session right before Christmas. During this time, Congress passed the FY 2011 defense authorization bill (HR 6523) which funds a variety of military and DOE related programs. The "Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011" became law January 7, 2011 with President Barack Obama's signature, codifying major energy efficiency policies and renewable energy standards that will shape the way the military does business at domestic installations and in forward operations.

 

Important to the local community, the FY 2011 act states the Secretary of Energy may establish a program to permit the establishment of energy parks-areas for the development of energy technologies-on former defense nuclear facilities, and requires a report from the Secretary to the Congressional defense committees analyzing the potential environmental, mission, and other costs and benefits of such a program. The report shall include such recommendations for additional legislative actions as the Secretary considers appropriate to facilitate the development of energy parks on former defense nuclear facilities.

 

Energy parks can be used to develop and deploy energy technologies and implement pilot program and demonstration projects. The act sets as one of its objectives a "business environment that encourages collaboration and interaction between the public and private sectors."