Senate appropriators proposed about the same funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy programs, including for a proposed interim storage inquiry, during a markup this week.
If the Senate’s energy and water budget recommendation becomes law, it will green-light around $27.5 million in federal funds for nuclear waste disposal. The vast majority of that money, about $20 million, is for interim storage, according to the appropriations bill.
The remaining $7.5 million would come from the Nuclear Waste Fund. The Senate’s proposed energy and water budget recommendation for the 2022 fiscal year passed on a 25-5 bipartisan vote during an appropriations committee meeting Wednesday.
The Senate’s nuclear waste recommendations are more or less consistent with those the House passed as part of a seven-bill budget minibus last week.
During Wednesday’s markup, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) offered and subsequently withdrew an amendment to the energy and water bill that would move some of the roughly $3.9 billion recommended for DOE’s energy efficiency and renewable energy program to its nuclear energy and fossil fuels offices. In particular, Kennedy proposed shunting $250 million into the nuclear energy portfolio from money set aside for renewables.
Kennedy told RadWaste Monitor after the markup that he would consider bringing his amendment back to the floor.
“Anyone who thinks that we can reach carbon neutrality in this economy without nuclear energy has tested positive for stupid,” Kennedy said.
Meanwhile, the Senate recommended just around $1.6 billion of the $1.8 billion the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy requested for fiscal 2022, consistent with the House. Top-line for the full agency was around $73.7 billion, a bit lower than the roughly $74.3 billion DOE asked for.
