The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in July again spent little of its remaining balance from the fund intended to pay for a federal nuclear waste repository.
The agency spent just $704 in the month for unspecified program planning and support. That left the NRC with a total balance of $434,262, with $408,039 of that not yet committed to cover any expenses, according to the latest spending report to Congress.
As she has regularly in recent months, NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki said in a letter attached to the report that “there are no significant actions to report for the month,” just “limited program planning and support activities that resulted in nominal expenditures.”
The agency last spent more than $1,000 from the fund in February, an outlay of $1,249.
The NRC in 2008 began reviewing the application from the Department of Energy for a license to build and operate a repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev., for the nation’s spent nuclear power plant fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The Obama administration terminated funding in 2010, but a federal appeals court in August 2013 ordered the regulator to resume the licensing proceeding.
As of July it has spent just over $13.1 million of the more than $13.5 million from the fund it had on hand at the time of the ruling. Major expenses have included completion of a safety evaluation report for nearly $8.4 million and preparing an environmental impact statement supplement at just shy of $1.6 million.
The Trump administration has in two budget cycles failed to persuade Congress to appropriate funding to resume Yucca Mountain licensing at DOE and the NRC. The House in June zeroed out the White House request for nearly $116 million for the upcoming fiscal 2020. The Senate should this week release its funding bill that would cover nuclear waste management.
