Toward an Evidence-Based Nuclear Energy Policy

A live webcast will be streamed at 02:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast — Briefing Backgrounder — Toward an Evidence-Based Nuclear Energy Policy: Gaps in Research, Regulation, Policy, and Practice in the U.S. Nuclear Industry, and What Policymakers Can Do to Bridge Them (PDF) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join an online briefing on nuclear energy issues, including the current economics of the U.S. nuclear power industry, how to approach decommissioning as more civilian reactors shut down, and what to do with their high-level radioactive waste. In particular, the briefing will assess the impacts of extending the licenses of existing nuclear plants and pursuing “advanced reactors” as a way to fight climate change. As U.S. nuclear plants age out or become unprofitable, the growing number of shuttered reactors has spawned a new decommissioning business model which promises to remediate sites quickly, but also raises new questions about safety, financial assurance, cleanup standards, and waste disposition. Decommissioning companies want to ship highly radioactive spent fuel through 75% of Congressional districts to their proposed consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs) in New Mexico and Texas, which overburdened residents there oppose. Congress will likely be asked to change basic provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act this year to enable CISFs. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to lengthen the duration of license extensions for operating nuclear plants, potentially allowing them to keep running and generating radioactive waste for more than 80 years. To help inform major decisions on nuclear energy policy facing Congress, the briefing will point out gaps in current research and data, federal policy, and regulatory oversight, and what can be done to fill them. It will examine how some other countries safeguard their radioactive waste, and offer practical recommendations to help make pending U.S. policy and regulatory decisions about nuclear energy more evidence-based, and better aligned with science and environmental justice. This is the fourth EESI briefing on nuclear plant decommissioning and radioactive waste issues. It will be a moderated discussion with leading experts and advocates, including: