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Senator Larry E. Craig speaks at the
ICIE Gold Room workshop |
LINE Commission Chairman, Jeff Sayer said the report
emphasizes safety and environment as non-negotiable.
“We have to protect the aquifer and remain true to the 1995
agreement,” he said. “It’s about the Magic Valley, the tribal lands and anyone
who is downstream from the Snake River Aquifer. That’s not lost on us.”
Sayer said the Commission set out knowing this process would
be controversial, but he reminded the group that the agreement is based on a
premise that there will be a place for the waste to go in 2035. There’s no
longer any such place. This puts Idaho in a difficult position, he said.
“We need to find a balance between the burdens that come
with the industry and the benefits,” he said. “We need to walk a fine line.”
There are three tenants that Sayer said the Commission
agreed cannot be changed.
1) The
initiated cleanup of legacy waste must continue.
2) The
establishment of the environment and aquifer as highest priority remains in
place, as well as
3) Established
provisions to hold federal government accountable.
However, while Sayer said the process of waste disposal and
fuel storage has changed dramatically since the 1995 agreement.
“20 years ago, we were becoming the federal dumping ground
for the United States’ nuclear waste,” he said based on a Federal policy that
focused on isolation, dilution and minimizing exposure.
Today, Sayer said the issues at hand are less environmental,
and more focused on economics.
Governor C.L. Butch Otter introduced Sayer and his panel of
LINE Commission members at the ICIE annual Gold Room Workshop to a joint
session of the House Environment, Energy and Technology and Senate Resources
and Conservation Committees February 6 saying the timing was right for an
extensive and external review if the INL and related nuclear activities in
Idaho.
He said the work of the Commission has confirmed the vision
of his predecessors that the INL holds a place as the preeminent state asset
that must be maintained and enhanced for the foreseeable future. Sayer agreed.
“The INL is one of our most important assets, hands down,”
Sayer said. “There are a lot of folks who say ‘we need to leave nuclear,’” he
said, “but nuclear is the core that sets the INL apart from all other systems.
If we leave that, we lose all the related contracts.”
Sayer cited economic impact studies showing the INL is
responsible for 24,000 jobs and $3.5 million of annual economic impact.
Replacing it, he said, will be virtually impossible.
In addition, outreach conducted through the state’s
universities will be significant in continuing to fill the vacuum in the work
force the industry faces. The Center for
Advanced Energy Studies, or CAES, is a collaboration between the universities
and the INL which is garnering world wide attention, Sayer said, and Idaho has
an opportunity to build on this work, reaching out to partner with other
states.
To date, Sayer noted the Federal government has done a phenomenal
job at cleaning up the waste that comes into our state, meeting all the
deadlines set fort in the 1995 agreement, except the integrated waste treatment
unit set to process liquid waste. That’s one process where the deadline was
missed. Our Governor, the DOE and state are working to make sure that’s brought
back into the schedule.
The Commission report notes that cleanup still needs to progress,
and that permanent fuel disposition is what today’s discussion revolves around.
At the same time, he said, there are changes in the industry that spell
opportunity for Idaho, and federal funds that have been set aside to manage
nuclear waste. How do we take care of spent fuel rods that have used only used
15% of their capacity when they come out of the reactors? The focus of the
federal policy is now on storing those until they can be used.
With these issues in mind, the Commission’s recommendations
include:
- Continue
to work cooperatively with the U.S. Department of Energy and other
impacted states to address remaining environmental risks and continue
cleanup at the INL site.
- Exercise
leadership as the U.S. formulates federal energy and nuclear waste
management policies.
- Capitalize
on Idaho’s nuclear technology competencies by supporting the growth of
existing nuclear businesses, the corresponding infrastructure, and the
attraction of new nuclear businesses.
- Invest
in its infrastructure to enable INL and Idaho universities to successfully
compete for U.S. and global research opportunities.
- Develop
and promote the Center for Advanced Energy Studies as a regional, national
and global resource for nuclear energy research.
- Strengthen
and expand nuclear education and workforce training offerings.
Paramount to the Commissions recommendations was the impetus
not to miss out on an economic opportunity for Idaho.
“If we’re not careful, we’ll become a defacto storage site
without a meaningful reward.”
Sayer noted the fine stipulated in the 1995 agreement is $65,000
day subject to caveats. The reality, he said, is there will be a significant
amount of work to get those funds and the DOE will likely just pull them from
the INL budget and reapply them.
Panel member Senator Larry Craig reaffirmed Sayer’s
statement the INL has a different place in our energy future than it did 20
years ago.
“The lab I saw in the 1970s and the one I see today are
worlds apart,” he said. “The lab we have today is operated in the context of
today’s knowledge and today’s science. It’s there today because of this
agreement.”
He likened the changing realities and their impact on the
1995 agreement to the US Constitution.
“Some would like to think of (the Constitution) as a static
document that should not be changed, that it was endowed by our creators,” he
said. “It still has the fundamental principals, but we have found some need to
change it along the way.”
“There is now one clean, non emitting form of energy in the
world, and it is nuclear. There are hundreds (of plants) being built across the
world and others planned. What we can offer to our nation is dynamic, a world
class asset, and there is nothing else like it in the world. It sets Idaho
apart and sets a dynamic opportunity for all of us.”
