SRS Watch Calls for Halt to Incoming Nuclear Waste Until an Exit Plan is Developed and Implemented
Columbia, SC – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is now reviewing the transport cask planned to be used for shipment of research reactor spent nuclear fuel from the University of Alberta, Canada to the US Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, according to documents reviewed by Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch).
The NRC approved the shipment route for the spent fuel, classified under US law as high-level nuclear waste, from the Alberta-Montana border to SRS on November 9, 2016. If the shipment were to go forward, the spent fuel from a “SLOWPOKE” research reactor at the University of Alberta (U of A) would be taken to the L-Basin storage pool at SRS, with no clear plans for its long-term disposition out of South Carolina.