TRANSPORTATION OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS - Environmentally Conscious Materials Handling - page 223

the used nuclear fuel at the commercial nuclear plants and the HLW at the
government-operated reprocessing facilities will be sent to a deep geologic repos-
itory for disposal. Under this scenario, the used nuclear fuel could be moved more
than once. The owners of some nuclear power plants with full, or nearly full,
spent fuel pools are attempting to identify a location for a central storage facility,
where they can store the used fuel until the repository is opened. If a location
for the central storage facility can be found and a license can be obtained to
build and operate it, some of the used nuclear fuel may be moved twice—first
from the power plant to the central storage facility and then from storage to the
repository.
If the United States chooses to reprocess and recycle the used nuclear fuel,
the used fuel will go to the reprocessing facility. The HLW generated during
reprocessing would then be vitrified and shipped to the deep geologic repository.
HLW from the weapons facilities and West Valley would also go to the deep
geologic repository.

4 RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRANSPORTING USED NUCLEAR

FUEL AND HLW
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, amended in 1987, was an Act “to pro-
vide for the development of repositories for the disposal of high-level radioactive
waste and spent nuclear fuel, to establish a program of research, development
and demonstration regarding the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and
spent nuclear fuel, and for other purposes” (USDOE 2004). Among those other
purposes were establishing a fund to pay for the disposal of the waste, including
transportation, and establishing the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Man-
agement (OCRWM) within the Department of Energy to oversee transportation
and disposal of the waste (OCRWM 2004).
Since 1983, the Nuclear Waste Fund has collected 1.0 mill ($0.001) for each
kilowatt-hour of electricity generated using nuclear fuel. The amount collected
from the 1 mill per kilowatt-hour fee was $24.9 billion as of March 2005 (Bradish
2005). The Department of Defense contributes to the Nuclear Waste Fund to cover
the cost of disposing of HLW from its facilities. Approximately $8.9 billion from
the Nuclear Waste Fund had been spent through 2005, most of it to conduct
research at and prepare the license application for a geologic repository at Yucca
Mountain (Bradish 2005).
Since it was established, OCRWM has issued several documents related to
plans for transportation of used nuclear fuel and HLW. The most recent document
is a strategic plan released in November 2003 (OCRWM 2003). The plan notes
that there have been approximately 3,000 shipments of used nuclear fuel and
HLW in the United States, all of which have been made safely. In addition, there
has been “extensive worldwide experience” with spent nuclear fuel transportation.