US to offer states deals to host nuclear waste, source says

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Energy will seek interest from U.S. states as soon as this week on storing nuclear waste in return for incentives to build nuclear reactors, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

The administration of President Donald Trump wants to quadruple U.S. nuclear power capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050 as electricity demand surges for the first time in decades driven by sources including data centers for AI and cryptocurrencies.

The new strategy is a major policy shift aimed at solving a decades-old problem that has hobbled the U.S. nuclear industry: what to do with its radioactive waste. Overcoming local opposition to waste storage is seen as critical to achieving the administration’s ambitious nuclear expansion goals.

Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday that nuclear power can be developed at “good prices” and be safe despite having previously expressed reservations about it.

The Energy Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the plan, details of which could change.

Local concerns about radioactive and toxic nuclear waste have slowed the development of nuclear power in recent years. The waste is currently kept onsite at nuclear power plants, first in spent fuel pools and then in concrete and steel casks.

Having states host waste repositories deep underground in exchange for incentives for nuclear power plants would represent a departure from a long-held plan to store the waste under Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.

The department focused solely on Yucca as a single repository for all U.S. waste starting in 1987, but former President Barack Obama stopped the project due to opposition from state lawmakers. The U.S. government spent at least $15 billion on Yucca over several administrations.

After Yucca, the department has focused on consent-based siting for nuclear waste. But there are no current plans for a permanent storage site.

The Energy Department will invite interest from states on deals for nuclear power that would also offer incentives for nuclear waste reprocessing and uranium enrichment, the source said. The plan would be non-binding, and states would not have to accept every element of it, the source said.

Former President Ronald Reagan lifted a moratorium on reprocessing, or recycling, of nuclear waste, but companies have not commercially developed the technique in the United States due to costs. Many non-proliferation advocates oppose reprocessing, saying its supply chain could be a target for militants seeking to seize materials for use in a crude nuclear bomb.

The plan was first reported by Politico on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)