Wrap Up: Energy Dept. Should Increase Underground Lab Research on Nuclear Waste Disposal, Expert Panel Says

摘要

The Department of Energy should expand its use of underground research laboratories (URLs) for research on geologic disposal of nuclear waste, including establishing facilities in the United States, a federal panel ofThat would include establishing one or more underground research laboratories, potentially using existing underground facilities, according to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. The Energy Department has since 2012 participated in research at URLs in Europe and Asia, the board noted in its report. That began after the Obama administration ended the agency’s efforts to secure a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the planned radioactive waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. Afterward, DOE initiated “generic research” on clay and other types of host rocks, along with disposal environments, that were significantly unlike the environment at Yucca Mountain, the new report says.