The House Appropriations Committee on Sunday expressed skepticism about the Department of Energy’s approach to management of nuclear waste, even as it seems likely to approve the funding request for the upcoming budget year.
In the fiscal 2021 energy and water development bill released last week, the Democrat-led panel met the department’s $27.5 million request: $20 million for interim storage of radioactive waste and the remaining $7.5 million for oversight of the federal Nuclear Waste Fund.
“The Committee is disappointed with the lack of details in the Department’s proposal for interim storage activities, many of which appear to be generic efforts that have been underway for years and are funded within the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Integrated Waste Management Systems program in this recommendation,” House Appropriations said in the legislative report for the bill, released Sunday.
The interim storage money is to be used for selecting a location for a temporary facility to hold waste, which must involve a “consent-based approach,” the committee said. That essentially means that impacted state, local, and tribal governments have veto authority over whether a facility is built within or near their borders.
The DOE Office of Nuclear Energy would separately continue to manage an Integrated Waste Management System, under the House bill. That would cover ongoing preparation at locations currently stuck with radioactive waste, along with preparations for eventual transport of the material. “As the Department continues to plan for an integrated waste management system for our nation’s spent nuclear fuel, the Committee encourages the Department to include planning for the removal of spent nuclear fuel from sites located near cities and Indian reservations.”
The Energy Department received $25 million for integrated waste management in fiscal 2020, but zeroed out the line item for next year in favor of the Interim Storage and Nuclear Waste Fund Oversight program.
Under a separate legislative line item for research and development for used nuclear fuel disposition, DOE is told to sustain study of how spent fuel behaves in transport and how to increase safety of the fuel rods during transit.
The Office of Nuclear Energy in total would receive $1.43 billion in the bill, down slightly from the $1.49 billion current appropriation but well above the $1.2 billion requested by the Energy Department.
The House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee passed the legislation last week. The full committee is scheduled to mark up its energy and water bill starting at 1 p.m. Eastern time today.
