The Energy Policy Institute (EPI), based at Boise State University, and its partners were selected among awardees to inform consent-based siting approaches for consolidated interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. The Department of Energy (DOE) announced a total of $26 million in funding to support the work of 13 awardees [MK1] with communities. Currently, spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants is stored at the plants across the country.
EPI, the policy arm for the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES), will lead a team of eight universities and the National Tribal Energy Association, with industry and public sector partners. Kathy Araújo, director of the CAES Energy Policy Institute and associate professor of sustainable energy systems, innovation and policy at Boise State, is part of the Emerging Energy Market Analysis (EMA) team. “EMA’s work to help inform communities on energy decision-making by accounting for social acceptance naturally aligns with this new initiative,” Araújo said.
Researchers at the University of Wyoming and University of Michigan, also member organizations of the EMA initiative, are among the core partners in the new consortium to be led by EPI.
DOE competitively selected geographically and institutionally diverse awardees that will each receive approximately $2 million to explore the most equitable approaches to site interim storage facilities, according to a DOE news release. Awardees will represent consent-based siting consortia that will lead inclusive community and stakeholder engagement efforts, elicit public feedback to refine the department’s consent-based siting process, and develop strategies that support mutual learning. Throughout the process, the consent-based siting consortia will work with the department to facilitate activities and dialogue to build more equitable and fair principles into the engagement processes.