Status of siting the Monitored Retrievable Storage facility

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is authorized to site, construct, and operate a Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility for temporary above ground storage of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (the Act) established two paths for obtaining a site. One, the DOE directed siting approach, is not being implemented at this time. Currently, DOE has decided to follow the second alternative, voluntary siting. The Act, as amended, also established the Office of the Nuclear Waste Negotiator (ONWN) to interact with potential volunteers who would host the MRS. The voluntary process has resulted in 21 applications for financial grants to study the possibility of hosting the facility. The siting process, regardless of the siting approach, must consider both statutory and regulatory requirements for the site. Preliminary site requirements and attributes can be used to assess the technical qualifications and regulatory compliance features of a potential MRS site. The site assessment process will determine whether a site meets the preliminary site requirements and attributes can be used to assess the technical qualifications and regulatory compliance features of a potential MRS site. The site assessment process will determine whether a site meets the preliminary site requirements and would identify the favorable and potentially unfavorable characteristics of a particular site. The purpose of these requirement and attributes is to permit a reasonable determination, on the basis of available information, that a site is potentially suitable for a MRS facility