Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
2/28/2014
Nuclear Regulatory Chairman Allison Macfarlane does not support asking for more appropriations to complete the licensing review for the Yucca Mountain high level waste repository, according to comments she supplied this week to members of the House Energy and Commerce committee. Macfarlane stated that as she understood the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s writ of mandamus decision compelling the NRC to complete the licensing review, the Commission is under no legal obligation to request additional funding for the review. “I do not believe that NRC should propose a supplemental budget request to OMB to support full resumption of the license application,” Macfarlane wrote to Subcommittee Chairmen John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Ed Whitfield (Ky.) for the hearing record. “We are currently upholding our legal obligations under both the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and the writ of mandamus issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and using previously appropriated Nuclear Waste Fund money to complete the license application review process. The court gave the NRC broad discretion to choose a pragmatic course of action to resume the Yucca Mountain licensing process, and we chose an incremental approach that is both constructive and consistent with the writ and the resources available.”
The questions that prompted Macfarlane’s responses stem from the House Environment and the Economy and Energy and Power subcommittees combined oversight hearing held on Dec. 12, 2013. At this hearing, Macfarlane remained vague about the Commission’s intentions to ask for more money from Congress to complete the licensing by referring to it as a “Commission decision.” The NRC has approximately $11.1 million in funds earmarked for the licensing review, a figure that should barely cover the completion of the Safety Evaluation Reports. “No amount of resources will enable the NRC to conduct any type of meaningful review of the licensing application in the absence of an applicant with sufficient funding to participate in the process and defend its application,” Macfarlane said. “I would also note that Congress once again passed an appropriations bill that included no money for either the NRC or DOE to conduct activities related to Yucca Mountain. For these reasons, and in consideration of the current budget environment, I do not believe it is wise for NRC to request money we do not currently need,” she said.
At the December hearing, Shimkus grew frustrated that the NRC would not ask for money to comply with the law. “The law says you have to comply, and you say you don’t have the money to comply. I don’t think it’s a tough response to say ‘I will ask for the money I need to comply with the law,’” Shimkus said at the hearing. The congressman was not satisfied this week, either, with Macfarlane’s responses. “We are extremely disappointed that the Chairman seems unwilling to follow the law and the court’s mandate by refusing to ask Congress for the necessary funds,” an Energy and Commerce Committee spokeswoman said.
