At the public meeting of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 7, 2012, Dr. Albert Carnesale from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) made the following announcement (paraphrased):

“… last week the Governor of the State of South Dakota wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Energy … to express the conditional interest of his state in hosting either or both a storage or disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel … provided the necessary research for such a facility is performed at South Dakota universities under a federal grant from DOE.”

Apparently the letter was sent sometime between February 27th and March 2nd.  Several representatives from the Department of Energy in attendance at the NWTRB meeting informally confirmed Dr. Carnesale’s announcement.  However, no other information regarding this announcement, or the South Dakota letter itself, is publicly available as of mid-March 2012.