The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in September continued its nearly yearlong trend of spending just a few hundred dollars per month of its balance from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund.
The total for the month was $699 for unspecified program planning and support, according to the agency’s latest report to Congress. That is primarily how the NRC has spent down its fund balance through 2019.
As of Sept. 30, the industry regulator had $406,477 in unobligated funding on hand for its work related to the stalled licensing of the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada.
The NRC in 2008 began reviewing the license application for the underground waste disposal site from the Department of Energy, during the George W. Bush administration. The Obama administration defunded the proceeding two years later.
In August 2013, a federal appeals court ordered the NRC to resume the licensing process. At the time, the agency had over $13.5 million appropriated by Congress from the Nuclear Waste Fund. Since then, it has spent slightly more than $13.1 million. The largest chunk of that, nearly $8.4 million, was used to finish a safety evaluation report on licensing.
The NRC has said it cannot complete its review of the license application with its current Nuclear Waste Fund balance. The Trump administration has in three successive budget requests asked Congress to appropriate money for the NRC and DOE to resume the proceeding. Congress has rejected the request twice and appears set to do so again for the current fiscal 2020. In the absence of approved budget bills for this budget year, the federal government is operating on a stopgap continuing resolution that expires on Nov. 21.
