Fifteen Democratic members of Congress from states with retired or soon-to-close nuclear power plants this week urged leading House appropriators to provide $25 million to help the Department of Energy establish interim storage of radioactive waste.
Two corporate teams are seeking Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for sites that could hold used fuel commercial power plants until DOE meets its legal mandate to build a permanent repository for the material. The department is also legally obligated to remove Greater-Than-Class C radioactive waste from commercial and government generation sites.
“With this in mind, we respectfully request $25 million to support the development of a [consolidated interim storage] program at DOE, the necessary applications, and assist with site preparation activities and regional transportation efforts of” spent nuclear fuel, the 15 House members said in an April 1 letter to Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), respectively the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations energy and water development committee.
For the upcoming 2020 federal fiscal year, DOE has requested $116 million for the licensing the planned repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., and to develop a “robust” interim storage program. However, Congress has rejected similar proposals in the last two years.
Within the $25 million total requested by the House members, $10 million would be used to begin “a robust CIS program” at the Energy Department, $10 million to prepare nuclear facilities to begin moving their spent fuel to interim storage, and $5 million for DOE work to resume regional transport compacts and transportation coordination of the waste.
The signatories represent California, home to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, due to close in 2025, and four retired facilities; Wisconsin, where one of three plants remains operational; Massachusetts, where the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is due to close by the end of May; Maine, where the Maine Yankee facility was decommissioned by 2005; and New Jersey, home to the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, which shut down in October 2018.
