Nuclear Waste: Operation of Monitored Retrievable Storage Facility is unlikely by 1998

DOE requested $100 million over the next 3 years to develop an MRS facility by 1998. DOE can begin accepting delivery of utilities’ waste by 1998 only by having an MRS facility then. To accomplish this, however, the Nuclear Waste Negotiator must complete a siting agreement and obtain congressional approval of the agreement, including the removal of statutory links to repository development, by the end of 1992. The negotiator does not believe this is possible.<br/><br/>Whether DOE is legally obligated to store or dispose of waste in 1998 is unclear. Industry officials have said that utilities might sue DOE for breach of contract and seek payment from the Nuclear Waste Fund for on-site storage added after 1998 if DOE cannot take delivery of their waste then. DOE believes that such payments are not permitted by the nuclear waste act and has not stated if it would support legislation to permit such payments or what other actions it would take without an<br/>MRS facility in 1998.<br/><br/>Although an MRS facility is critical to DOE&#39;S ability to store waste in 1998, solely from the perspectives of utility storage capacity, cost, and safety, its absence is not considered to be a cause for concern. First, evidence indicates that virtually all utilities can store their waste on-site well beyond the scheduled repository opening date of 2010. For this reason, no utilities requested federal interim storage before the contract authority provided in the statute expired in 1990. Second, studies have concluded that there are small differences between the costs and safety of storing waste at an MRs facility or at nuclear plants.<br/>