IG AUDIT SUPPORTS DOE’S NUCLEAR WASTE FUND REPORTS

An Inspector General’s report on the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Waste Fund revealed that the Department accurately reported the amount of money in the Fund. The audit, conducted by KMPG and overseen by the Inspector General, showed that the NWF holds $36.6 billion in securities purchased from the U.S. government in the 2013 fiscal year, down from the $38.7 billion the NWF held during the 2012 fiscal year. The audit also included a list of liabilities that may affect the Fund, with the large amount of pending court payouts for violation of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act topping the list. According to the NWPA, DOE is responsible for disposing of spent nuclear fuel from reactor sites, but because it has not done so, DOE has had to pay damages to utility companies. The audit estimates these liabilities to be $25.1 billion based on previous settlements.

 

The money for the fund stemmed from a usage tax placed on rate payers. The fee amounted to one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt hour of energy generated by nuclear power, and was mandated under the NWPA Act to pay for the ultimate disposal of spent fuel in a repository, designated as Yucca Mountain. But since the Yucca Mountain project has been shuttered since 2010,  National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and NEI petitioned the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reduce the fee to zero. Last month, the court agreed with the petition, reducing the fee to zero.