Pearce Hails U.S. Department of Energy's Choice of Southeast New Mexico as Potential Location for Nuclear Fuel Recycling Facilities

Pearce Hails U.S. Department of Energy's Choice of Southeast New Mexico as Potential Location for Nuclear Fuel Recycling Facilities

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce hailed today's announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that it has selected Southeast New Mexico for two siting evaluations that will determine their suitability "for integrated spent fuel recycling facilities under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) initiative," according to a DOE news release issued earlier today. The sponsors of the two studies are the Eddy Lea Energy Alliance and EnergySolutions, LLC, respectively. The two projects will split as much as $16 million in federal grant funding with the nine other sites nationwide which DOE identified as candidates for the GNEP facilities.

"This announcement provides further compelling evidence of New Mexico's dramatic opportunities in supplemental and alternative energy," Rep. Pearce said. "Together with the Nuclear Enrichment Facility, these nuclear fuel recycling facilities would firmly establish our state as the leader in this field - creating jobs and prosperity for New Mexicans while helping pave the road to America's energy independence."

Rep. Pearce hosted a renewable energy summit last August 23, which featured an exceptionally productive roundtable discussion between leaders from diverse fields, including representatives from universities, government, and industry; research scientists; and consumer advocates.

According to today's DOE news release, which identifies the two Southeast New Mexico sites as being located in Hobbs and Roswell, "[t]he grantees will perform detailed siting studies related to hosting one or both of the Consolidated Fuel Treatment Center and the Advanced Burner Reactor." The release explained that "[a]n advanced nuclear fuel recycling center contains facilities where usable uranium and transuranics are separated from spent light water reactor fuel for use in producing new fuel that can be reused in a power reactor. An advanced recycling reactor is a fast reactor that would demonstrate the ability to reuse and consume materials recovered from spent nuclear fuel, including long-lived elements that would otherwise have to be disposed of in a geologic repository."

The DOE will establish the specific grant amounts in early 2007. It will utilize the information collected from each study to determine the feasibility and location of the GNEP facilities.

http://pearce.house.gov/news/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=53836