Waterford ― With the topic of spent nuclear fuel storage of great interest to the region, the country’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy visited here Tuesday to deliver the message that spent nuclear fuel storage is an important part of the nation’s clean energy strategy.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, a member of the House Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus, invited Kathryn Huff, the assistant secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy and Kim Petry, the acting deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition, to the region to speak with state, local and energy officials, including representatives of Connecticut Yankee and Dominion Energy, at a roundtable discussion at the Waterford Community Center.

Courtney said he invited the energy officials to Waterford due to the high interest level in the region as to what the federal government is doing on the issue of spent nuclear fuel, which is stored at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station.

Earlier this year, the Southeastern Connecticut Governments sent a letter to the Department of Energy in support of “a consent-based siting process to establish interim storage sites, and hopefully an eventual final disposal site,” to allow “the relocation of spent nuclear fuel from reactor sites,” such as Millstone.

During the roundtable, Huff said the Biden-Harris administration is extremely serious about reducing carbon emissions by at least 50% by 2030, getting to zero-carbon electricity by 2035, and getting to a net zero economy by 2050.

“These goals are extremely aggressive, and they can’t be done without nuclear power,” Huff said.

Nuclear power is resilient and reliable, but creates spent nuclear fuel, Huff explained, so as the government looks toward a future of keeping existing nuclear plants open and building new, advanced reactors, it’s important to find an answer to where to store the nuclear waste. The government has restarted the process to use a consent-based process to find interim storage in which a community would agree to host such a facility.

The management of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste is the U.S. Department of Energy’s responsibility, Petry said. Congress has provided the authorization and the funding to start down the path of a consent-based process for finding interim storage for spent nuclear fuel until a long-term repository is found.

A consent-based approach engages entities, from the local to the state, in agreeing on a site, unlike the controversial approach taken at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which was proposed to store all the nation’s nuclear waste but was not a grassroots effort, Huff explained. The Biden administration is not considering Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste depository.

The Department of Energy announced in September a $16 million funding opportunity “to provide resources to communities interested in learning more about consent-based siting, management of spent nuclear fuel, and interim storage facility siting consideration,” according to a news release from the Department of Energy.

The department is modeling international best practices to work with communities, said Petry. Canada, Finland and Sweden serve as great examples, Huff said.

The consent-based process is also considering environmental justice and equity issues, Petry said.

Petry explained that there are also ways to make interim storage attractive to communities, for example by combining it with a clean energy facility. The interim storage sites also create jobs.

Courtney announced that the Fiscal Year 2023 omnibus bill released early Tuesday includes $53 million for interim waste storage, which he described as a “healthy boost.”

During the discussion, Mike O’Connor, the vice president at Millstone, explained that the storage of spent nuclear fuel at Millstone “takes away valuable real estate” that could be used in other ways.

Courtney said after Tuesday’s event that the department’s willingness to revisit the interim storage issue and use a consent-based approach is significant.

“It’s new and exciting that the government is actually trying to again get this issue moving,” Courtney said.

k.drelich@theday.com