The nominee to lead the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy on Thursday pledged to follow the law when it comes to disposal of nuclear waste – which for now means supporting the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada.
Rita Baranwal was among three nominees to different federal agencies who came before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for a two-hour confirmation hearing.
Under questioning by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Baranwal said local voices should be heard as the federal government decides on a final resting place for tens of thousands of tons of high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors. However, “I would work with what Congress decides and passes as law and would follow that,” she said.
Congress in 1982 directed the Department of Energy to dispose of that waste. Five years later, it designated the remote area in Nye County, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the location for the repository. No law has superseded that mandate in the last 31 years.
The federal government to date has spent about $15 billion to make waste disposal at Yucca Mountain a reality, but has not yet secured a license for the repository, much less built it.
The George W. Bush administration Energy Department submitted its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2008, but the Obama administration halted the proceeding two years later. The Trump administration has in its first two budget proposals requested funding to resume licensing, but has been denied both times by Congress.
The Office of Nuclear Energy is primarily focused on advancing new nuclear reactor systems and related technologies, but it also manages DOE’s work on nuclear waste. That means it would lead the department’s application on Yucca Mountain if it is funded again. Baranwal was nominated as assistant DOE secretary for nuclear energy in October.
Baranwal has since 2016 led the department’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative, which provides funding and other assistance to research and development that advance nuclear energy technologies toward commercialization. She previously spent nearly three years at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, Pa., and nine years at Westinghouse’s nuclear fuel division.
Her opening statement, and most questions from committee members, focused on Baranwal’s area of expertise: development of nuclear technologies and promoting the U.S. nuclear power industry. But Cortez Masto used her allotted five minutes of questioning to press the nominee on Yucca Mountain.
“[H]ave you, based on your previous experience or in your preparation for this position, formed an opinion about the safety of storing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain?” the lawmaker asked.
Baranwal responded: “My expertise has always been in the middle of the fuel cycle, so I’m not very well versed at the early stages, such as the mining, nor am I very well versed at the back end on the back end on the used fuel and waste side of things.”
Baranwal acknowledged she had not read the 2012 report from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. The recommendations from that expert panel included instituting a “consent-based” approach for siting future U.S. nuclear waste management facilities. President Barack Obama pursued that approach, which called for buy-in from a wide range of local stakeholders before a disposal repository is built. Time ran out on Obama’s term in office before consent-based siting could go beyond a series of public meetings around the country and a draft plan.
The question of consent was clearly on Cortez Masto’s mind Thursday. Nevadans overall widely oppose their state becoming home to radioactive waste from other states, and that posture is uniformly reflected in their state and federal leadership.
The lawmaker urged Baranwal to commit to, if confirmed, visiting Yucca Mountain and to “listen to both sides, look at the science, and let the science decide what should happen there and not a political decision that was made years ago that negates the safety and the health of the people who live there and the safety and national security interests of this country?”
Baranwal said, if confirmed, she looked forward to visiting the site.
If confirmed, Baranwal could also lead DOE efforts on interim storage of spent fuel until the repository is ready. Two companies are seeking Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for temporary storage sites in Texas and New Mexico. The topic did not come up at Thursday’s hearing.
The Trump administration has sent mixed messages regarding Yucca Mountain in recent weeks. While in Nevada last month, President Donald Trump acknowledged state residents’ concerns over the project and said the matter would be considered “very seriously” in coming weeks. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, though, said less than a week later that the administration would continue to follow the law.
The Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday did not vote on confirming Baranwal and the other two nominees who testified: Bernard McNamee, to join the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Raymond David Vela, as director of the National Park Service. Committee Chair Heather Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she hopes the panel will report the nominees to the full Senate after Thanksgiving, potentially setting up confirmation votes in the waning days of the 115th Congress.
There was no indication from committee members that they might reject Baranwal’s nomination. Cortez Masto’s office did not respond to a query Thursday regarding her position.
In wrapping up the hearing, Murkowski emphasized that addressing the nuclear waste impasse will be crucial in determining the future of the nuclear power sector: “We’ve got to deal with waste issues. That must be addressed.”
