NWSC congratulates, and pledges to collaborate with, DOE & all state contenders
FRANKLIN, TN (July 30, 2026)—The Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC or Coalition), a national ad hoc coalition of public and private stakeholders focused on nuclear waste management policy, welcomes the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) July 28 announcement identifying five state contenders to potentially host Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses. Among other notable features, such Innovation Campuses reportedly will include used nuclear fuel disposal facilities, which are critical for a successful federal nuclear waste management program and thus critical to the Coalition’s mission.
On Tuesday, DOE announced that it had signed separate Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with the States of Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Idaho to further explore opportunities for each state as a potential host to one of the proposed Innovation Campuses. According to DOE, such Innovation Campuses “are designed to support activities across the full nuclear fuel lifecycle, including fuel fabrication, enrichment, reprocessing used nuclear fuel, and final disposition of used nuclear fuel.”
“We are grateful to DOE for launching—and to the States of Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Idaho for expressing thoughtful interest in—the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus initiative that will include used nuclear fuel disposal, a critical element of the nuclear fuel cycle,” stated NWSC Chair and Michigan Public Service Commissioner Katherine Peretick. “While DOE’s new MOUs with these five states won’t single-handedly solve the nation’s longstanding used nuclear fuel management challenges, they present a welcome opportunity for state/federal partnership to ultimately fulfill the federal government’s statutory and contractual responsibilities.”
For decades, states, tribes, communities, electric companies, electric customers, and other stakeholders have awaited meaningful progress on a permanent federal solution. The Coalition, whose members represent those diverse interests, emphasized that any successful path forward requires sustained engagement.
“The NWSC stands ready to collaborate with the Administration, Congress, states, tribes, communities, and all other stakeholders interested in durable and effective solutions for the management and ultimate disposal of the nation’s used nuclear fuel. At a minimum, our members will be actively watching how DOE works with the contending states as these discussions progress and as future agreements take shape,” said NWSC Vice Chair and Illinois Commerce Commissioner Stacey Paradis. “The success of any initiative involving used fuel storage, transport, and disposal will depend on a transparent and collaborative process that respects state, tribal, and local interests and provides clarity regarding plans for meeting the federal government’s long-term commitments.”
Used nuclear fuel continues to be stored at sites across the country because the federal government has not yet established a permanent disposal pathway. Thus, the NWSC advocates for a comprehensive, integrated national strategy that addresses interim storage, transportation, examination of the role for reprocessing/recycling, and permanent geologic disposal of used fuel from both operating and shutdown commercial nuclear power plants. To effectively accomplish such an integrated nuclear waste management program, the NWSC calls for the:
- Formation of a new, single-purpose waste management organization independent of DOE, with an interim step that requires no change in law—the re-establishment of a dedicated office within DOE; and
- Sustainable annual access to—and, in the meantime, appropriations from—the approximate $51 billion Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) balance (much of it collected from electric customers) and accumulating annual interest for its intended purpose under federal law, the permanent disposal of the nation’s used nuclear fuel. Especially because Congress can appropriate from the NWF for this purpose, no new nuclear waste fee collection is necessary at this time.
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About the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition
The Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC) is an ad hoc organization representing the collective interests of member state utility regulators, state consumer advocates, and other state officials; tribal governments; local governments; electric companies with operating and/or shutdown nuclear reactors; and other individual experts on nuclear waste policy matters. For over three decades, we have called for the U.S. Department of Energy to remove and ultimately dispose of commercial nuclear waste in accordance with federal law and contracts with electric companies. To learn more about the NWSC, please visit https://www.theNWSC.org.
