Transportation and Storage Subcommittee Report to the Full Commission Updated Report

The main question before the Transportation and Storage Subcommittee was whether the United States should change its approach to storing and transporting spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) while one or more disposal facilities are established.
To answer this question and to develop specific recommendations and options for consideration by the full Commission, the Subcommittee held multiple meetings and deliberative sessions, visited several sites in the United States where SNF and HLW are being stored, and heard testimony from numerous experts and stakeholders. The Subcommittee also benefited from commissioned papers on several relevant topics; these papers are available on the BRC website at www.brc.gov. Finally, the Subcommittee has gained valuable feedback and insight from the many individuals and organizations that offered comments on the initial draft of the Subcommittee report and the draft report of the full Commission.
As the first draft of this report was being prepared, on March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake occurred off the coast of the Tōhoku region of Japan. The earthquake triggered an immense tsunami that devastated the eastern coast of Japan. More than 20,000 people were killed or remain missing. Damages are still being tallied but could amount to several hundreds of billions of dollars.