The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in October spent $14,325 from its remaining Nuclear Waste Fund balance on federal court costs, according to its latest update to Congress.
That represented the large majority of the $15,727 spent from the fund during the month and left the agency with an unspent, unobligated balance of $415,019 as of Oct. 31.
The NRC also spent $11,645 in September and $1,448 in August on federal court litigation. In August, the state of Nevada filed a petition requesting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit force NRC Commissioner David Wright recuse himself from any licensing adjudication for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in the state. The court has not ruled on the recusal request, which the NRC opposes. “Agency attorneys have provided legal support in connection with this petition,” the agency said.
The Nuclear Waste Fund is intended to pay for licensing, development, and construction of a repository for spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors and high-level radioactive waste from defense nuclear operations. Per congressional directive in 1987, that facility would be built under Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., an outcome the state leadership vehemently opposes.
The Obama administration in 2009 suspended work on the Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain license application before the NRC. A federal appeals court in August 2013 ordered the regulator to proceed with the licensing process. Since then, the agency has spent over $13.1 million of the $13.5 million from the Nuclear Waste Fund it had on hand at the time of the ruling.
In October, the NRC also spent $1,402 on follow-up costs from a February meeting of its Licensing Support Network Advisory Review Panel and information-gathering for possible locations for adjudicatory hearings on the license application. The commission in October halted the hearing-location search until it becomes clearer whether a facility will be needed. Congress has so far rejected the Trump administration’s requests for funding at the NRC and DOE to resume licensing for the repository.
