Congress sends NDAA with Great Lakes radwaste warning to White House

The Senate this week passed the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, sending the annual defense policy bill, this year with a provision about radioactive waste disposal near the Great Lakes, to the White House.

The Senate approved the bill 85-14. Voting no were three Republicans, 10 Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats. President Joe Biden (D) had not said on Friday whether he would sign the bill, which often is firmly bipartisan. 

This year, there was a Democratic backlash against the bill in the House, where 124 members of the President’s party voted against the annual defense policy bill, which sets spending limits for programs including civilian nuclear weapons programs. 

Some of the no votes in the House were because of a provision inserted by House Republicans that restricts some medical treatments for transgender-identifying children of service members. An early Senate draft of the bill had a similar provision. Eighty-one House Democrats still voted for the bill last week.

The report appended to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes some language indicating Congress’ informal disapproval of disposing of radioactive waste near the Great Lakes.

“We discourage the Government of the United States and the Government of Canada from developing storage facilities for permanent storage of spent nuclear fuel, low-level or high-level nuclear waste, or military-grade nuclear material within the Great Lakes Basin,” lawmakers wrote in a report appended to the latest NDAA.

Because the language was not presented as a formal Sense of Congress resolution, as the House had proposed, it does not carry the same importance for future lawmaking. A bicameral Sense of Congress, while not legally binding, can create a foundation for future legislation.

Members of Congress have long been vigilant about radioactive waste disposal in the Great Lakes. The ADVANCE Act signed into law this year requires the Department of Energy to keep tabs on disposal activities near the iconic fresh-water bodies. 

One thing that figures to make the first DOE report to Congress about radwaste disposal near the Great Lakes is Canada’s decision in December to build a deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel about 130 miles from Lake Superior.