Quote:Secretary Chu Announces Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future
The Commission, led by Lee Hamilton and Brent Scowcroft, will provide recommendations on managing used fuel and nuclear waste

Washington, D.C. – As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to restarting America’s nuclear industry, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced the formation of a Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the Nation’s used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The Commission is being co-chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft.

In light of the Administration’s decision not to proceed with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, President Obama has directed Secretary Chu to establish the Commission to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The Commission will provide advice and make recommendations on issues including alternatives for the storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and defense spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.

“Nuclear energy provides clean, safe, reliable power and has an important role to play as we build a low-carbon future. The Administration is committed to promoting nuclear power in the United States and developing a safe, long-term solution for the management of used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The work of the Blue Ribbon Commission will be invaluable to this process. I want to thank Congressman Hamilton and General Scowcroft for leading the Commission and I look forward to receiving their recommendations,” said Secretary Chu.

“As the world moves to tackle climate change and diversify our national energy portfolio, nuclear energy will play a vital role,” said Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. “Today, the Obama Administration has taken an important step. With the creation of the Blue Ribbon Commission, we are bringing together leading experts from around the country to ensure a safe and sustainable nuclear energy future.”

"Finding an acceptable long-term solution to our used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste storage needs is vital to the economic, environmental and security interests of the United States," said Congressman Hamilton. "This will be a thorough, comprehensive review based on the best available science. I'm looking forward to working with the many distinguished experts on this panel to achieve a consensus on the best path forward."

“As the United States responds to climate change and moves forward with a long overdue expansion of nuclear energy, we also need to work together to find a responsible, long-term strategy to deal with the leftover fuel and nuclear waste," said General Scowcroft. "I'm pleased to be part of that effort along with Congressman Hamilton and such an impressive group of scientific and industry experts."

The Commission is made up of 15 members who have a range of expertise and experience in nuclear issues, including scientists, industry representatives, and respected former elected officials. The Commission’s co-chairs have a record of tackling tough challenges in a thoughtful, comprehensive manner and building consensus among an array of interests.

The Commission will produce an interim report within 18 months and a final report within 24 months.

The members of the Blue Ribbon Commission are:

• Lee Hamilton, Co-Chair
  Lee Hamilton represented Indiana's 9th congressional district from January 1965-January 1999. During his time in Congress, Hamilton served as the ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and chaired the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He is currently president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and director of The Center on Congress at Indiana University.
  
  
  He is a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council. Previously, Hamilton served as Vice Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission).
• Brent Scowcroft, Co-Chair
  Brent Scowcroft is President of The Scowcroft Group, an international business advisory firm. He has served as the National Security Advisor to both Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush. From 1982 to 1989, he was Vice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm.
  
  Scowcroft served in the military for 29 years, and concluded at the rank of Lieutenant General following service as the Deputy National Security Advisor. Out of uniform, he continued in a public policy capacity by serving on the President's Advisory Committee on Arms Control, the Commission on Strategic Forces, and the President's Special Review Board, also known as the Tower Commission.
• Mark Ayers, President, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
• Vicky Bailey, Former Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Former IN PUC Commissioner; Former Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs
• Albert Carnesale, Chancellor Emeritus and Professor, UCLA
• Pete V. Domenici, Senior Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center; former U.S. Senator (R-NM)
• Susan Eisenhower [2], President, Eisenhower Group
• Chuck Hagel, Former U.S. Senator (R-NE)
• Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute
• Allison Macfarlane [2], Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University
• Dick Meserve, Former Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Ernie Moniz, Professor of Physics and Cecil & Ida Green Distinguished Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Per Peterson, Professor and Chair, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California - Berkeley
• John Rowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation
• Phil Sharp, President, Resources for the Future
  

-DOE-

(01-29-2010 01:21 PM)I45owl Wrote:  Interesting list of people. None are obvious obstructionists that I could tell. MacFarlane represents someone who appears to have a good background with waste disposal issues. Not sure why the AFL-CIO is represented. But, there are at least five prominent Republicans there.

(01-29-2010 01:26 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  If the Unions started to promote innovation and excellence...they'd secure a role for themselves, and probably the US' future. This would be a great place to start.

(01-29-2010 02:08 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  For what it is worth...

From someone who lives in ComEd's area (Excelon), and in an area where we get much power (and fairly expensively) from nuke, beware of John Rowe. He's very vocally pro cap and trade, I'm assuming, because it would make his nuclear power plants more in demand.

(01-29-2010 02:25 PM)WMD Owl Wrote:  If Harry Reid gets defeated, DOE might just re-open Yucca Mountain. That would solve many problems.

(01-29-2010 03:24 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  how does france deal with its waste?

(01-29-2010 03:58 PM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  

(01-29-2010 03:24 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  how does france deal with its waste?

They reprocess and store it on site. Waste per person is the size of 1 penny per year. Nuclear provides 85% of their electricity needs.

The US refuses to reprocess nuclear waste.

Quote:3. THE CARTER POLICY

On April 7, 1977, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would defer indefinitely the reprocessing of spent nuclear reactor fuel. He stated that after extensive examination of the issues, he had reached the conclusion that this action was necessary to reduce the serious threat of nuclear weapons proliferation, and that by setting this example, the U. S. would encourage other nations to follow its lead.

President Carter's Executive Order also announced that the U. S. would sponsor an international examination of alternative fuel cycles, seeking to identify approaches which would allow nuclear power to continue without adding to the risk of nuclear proliferation. More than thirty nations participated over almost three years. But no new magic answer could be found.

Some other nations went ahead with reprocessing and breeder development, but high costs and loss of political support delayed plans in many nuclear projects around the world. The U. S. never regained its technological lead in nuclear energy development, its own nuclear power program had already gone from orders to cancellations, and the dream of long-term future energy security from breeder reactors faded away. The three years of uncertainty about the future had wiped away further prospects for private investments in the nuclear fuel cycle. Today, twenty years later, all U.S. spent fuel remains in storage at each plant where it was used.

Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 Wrote:The Obama Administration rejected use of the site (Yucca Mountain) in the 2009 United States Federal Budget proposal, which eliminated all funding except that needed to answer inquiries from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "while the Administration devises a new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal." However, the NWPA is still the federal law and is not a project of the President. Failing to follow the NWPA could be grounds for impeachment of Obama. On March 5, 2009, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate hearing the Yucca Mountain site is no longer viewed as an option for storing reactor waste. This is an astounding statement by a sitting Secretary of Energy in direct violation of the NWPA, to intentional defy Congress' law. Additionally, rumored action to withdraw the License Application is not allowed by any part of the NWPA and could result in the prosecution of the Secretary of Energy for failing to uphold his sworn duties.

(01-29-2010 04:09 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(01-29-2010 03:58 PM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  

(01-29-2010 03:24 PM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  how does france deal with its waste?

They reprocess and store it on site. Waste per person is the size of 1 penny per year. Nuclear provides 85% of their electricity needs.

The US refuses to reprocess nuclear waste.

why do we refuse? what are the potential drawbacks?

Quote:Today’s reprocessing technology—known as
PUREX—makes it possible to recycle and reuse
the uranium and plutonium from used nuclear
fuel. The remaining waste products are mainly
unusable fission products, which are mixed with
glass for disposal as high-level waste in a
process known as vitrification.
The uranium and plutonium separated from
used reactor fuel by PUREX reprocessing can
be recycled as mixed oxide fuel. France and the
United Kingdom currently use this process in a
safe and proliferation-resistant manner. The
PUREX process produces a plutonium stream that
is stored under strict security and safeguards as
provided in internationally agreed protocols. Japan
has built a reprocessing facility, scheduled to start
operating in 2009, that uses a modified PUREX
process that mixes uranium with the plutonium
product.
Advanced reprocessing systems do not produce a
separate plutonium stream. These processes keep
uranium, plutonium and other usable elements
together, while separating radioactive wastes containing
long-lived and short-lived radioisotopes
that have no energy value.