Idaho National Laboratory/Spent Fuel Rods Research Proposal

In December 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy proposed bringing to Idaho two shipments of spent nuclear fuel rods for research purposes at Idaho National Laboratory. From the outset, Attorney General Raúl Labrador made clear two important points: While he supports INL’s lab and research function, the DOE also needed to come into compliance with its cleanup obligations under the 1995 Settlement Agreement.

The documents and letters posted below track the communication and efforts by the Attorney General to negotiate a path forward on the spent fuel rod proposal, beginning with the first letter from December 2014 when the Attorney General was notified of the proposal, through mid-October 2015, when it was clear an agreement could not be reached.

On October 20, 2015, DOE officials notified the Attorney General that the department would ship the rods to another DOE facility.

Here is a link to a statement from the Attorney General regarding DOE’s decision on October 23, 2015