A senior official at the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday placed the onus squarely on Congress to provide the means for permanent disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste.
For now, that is the long-planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, as directed under the 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes said in testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources energy subcommittee.
Menezes said “he wished he knew the answer on how it is that we can do what Congress had directed the department to do some time ago, and that is to license Yucca Mountain.
“That is still the law. It’s a permanent repository, Congress made that clear,” the former Berkshire Hathaway executive said. “We only have had limited resources that we can pursue that. And so it’s really up to Congress and the appropriators to determine whether or not we have the resources to be able to develop that.”
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act made DOE responsible for disposal of the growing stockpile of used fuel from U.S. nuclear power planta and high-level radioactive waste, which is now at roughly 100,000 metric tons held in more than 30 states. The agency submitted its construction and operations license for Yucca Mountain to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2008 during the George W. Bush administration. The Obama administration defunded the proceeding two years later, later embarking on a “consent-based” approach for siting waste disposal that made little progress before Donald Trump became president in January 2017.
The White House since then has twice asked Congress for money to resume licensing for Yucca Mountain and has been twice denied. The Trump administration sought about $116 million in the upcoming 2020 federal budget year. The House in June rejected that proposal, instead recommending $47.5 million for “integrated” waste management that would focus on preparing efforts to consolidate used fuel in a small number of temporary storage sites. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved an energy and water bill that also zeroes out Yucca Mountain in favor of funding a pilot program for interim storage.
“I’m aware that there are many in Congress that believe that Yucca Mountain is not the answer, that they may wish to have interim storage or any other kinds of programs, and that certainly is the prerogative of the Congress,” Menezes said.
He noted that the continued impasse costs the federal government $2 million per day. That was a reference to payments to reimburse nuclear power plant owners for expenses incurred for used fuel storage past the Jan. 31, 1998, date set in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act for DOE to begin taking that material for disposal.
The DOE official was responding to comments from Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) during a hearing on the Nuclear Energy Renewal Act and eight other energy-related bills.
The Nuclear Energy Renewal Act, from Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), contains a set of measures aimed at sustaining the nation’s existing nuclear power fleet and advancing development of new nuclear technologies.
If passed, the legislation would also require the Department of Energy to conduct a research program covering consent-based interim storage of nuclear waste; transportation of waste; possible disposal alternatives for DOE-managed spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste; and disposal options for defense waste.
King expressed reservations about legislation aimed at bolstering the nuclear power industry while there is still no permanent repository for its radioactive waste.
“My only problem is that we made a promise to the American people 70 years ago that the federal government would take care of the waste from nuclear plants. And it bothers me that we’re talking about modernizing, relicensing, extending, and we still haven’t kept that promise,” he said.
Maine’s junior senator noted that radioactive spent nuclear fuel remains stuck at the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant, which has been otherwise fully decommissioned after closing permanently in 1997.
The committee did not vote on any of the bills Wednesday. A markup for the legislation had not been posted on the panel’s website as of deadline Friday.
