The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday turned back a proposal to resume licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository as it approved legislation to fund the Department of Energy and other agencies for fiscal 2020.
The panel voted 31-21 to report the $46.6 billion energy and water development appropriations bill to the full House.
For the budget year starting Oct. 1, the legislation would provide $47.5 million for integrated management of the nation’s nuclear waste, including $25 million for activities to consolidate spent reactor fuel now held-on site at nuclear power plants around the nation.
The bill as written provides nothing to restart licensing of the Yucca Mountain disposal site in Nevada, which was defunded nearly a decade ago by the Obama administration. That reverses House support for licensing in recent years, prior to Democrats retaking the majority in the lower chamber in the 2018 midterm elections.
An amendment from Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) would have provided $74 million for Yucca Mountain licensing activities at the Energy Department, the applicant, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the adjudicator. “It is time to stop the needless delays in this process,” Simpson, ranking member of the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee that wrote the first draft of the bill, told the full panel.
Subcommittee Chair Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) countered that the bill as written provides a more expedited approach to removing the waste from its current storage sites.
Simpson’s amendment was defeated in a narrow 25-27 vote.
Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) has said she expects the full House to vote on the energy and water bill in June.
