Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
7/24/2015
Nevada Sens. Harry Reid (D) and Dean Heller (R), both strong opponents of the Yucca Mountain waste storage facility plan, this week introduced legislation that would require state consent before any Nuclear Waste Fund money could be spent on the transport of spent nuclear fuel to a potential repository. The bill would serve as a companion to the pair’s “Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act,” introduced earlier this year, which would allow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to authorize construction of a nuclear waste repository only if the secretary of energy has secured written consent from the governor of the host state, affected units of local government, and impacted Indian tribes. This new bill appears to be aimed at further hindering the development of transportation infrastructure that would be needed for Yucca Mountain to move forward.
A longtime opponent to Yucca Mountain, Reid had a large role in the project’s shutdown by the Obama administration in 2010. The Department of Energy has maintained, despite Republican pressure, that Yucca Mountain remains “unworkable” for spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste storage due to the lack of consent for the repository in Nevada. Moniz has emphasized that the department’s latest storage strategy has not changed in the new Congress, which includes Republican control of both houses. DOE still intends on moving forward with a pilot interim storage facility as the preferred strategy to satisfy the nation’s spent fuel disposal needs. However, due to language in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, DOE cannot consider other sites beyond Yucca Mountain without congressional approval. In its fiscal 2016 budget request, the department asked for a reform that would enable it to move forward with its waste management strategy, but it remains to be seen whether that language will make it into legislation.
