Martin Schneider
RW Monitor
7/25/2014
Senate appropriators provided strong backing for centralized interim storage of spent fuel in the FY 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bill released by the full Appropriations Committee this week, though there is not expected to be further action on the legislation in the Senate. The full Senate Appropriations Committee had planned to mark up the bill in June, but cancelled the markup due to a disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over a controversial amendment that would scuttle new carbon emissions regulations on power plants. The release of the bill and accompanying report this week signals that Senate leaders have given up hope of marking up the bill, and will use the proposed markup during conference negotiations with the House in several months.
The Senate bill would provide $230 million for the Department of Energy’s Fuel Cycle R&D programs, including $119 million for the Used Nuclear Fuel Disposition Program. The bill would authorize DOE to move forward with a centralized storage program, providing $89 million for those efforts. The Committee seeks to side-step the overall impasse with the House over the cancellation of the Yucca Mountain repository project, noting in the report accompanying the bill: “Permanent geologic disposal, still the scientific consensus for ultimate disposition of these materials, is more than 3 decades away, whatever site is ultimately chosen. Therefore, to spur near-term progress on this issue, the Committee again includes a general provision in section 308 of this bill authorizing the Department of Energy to develop a pilot program for a consolidated storage facility, pending enactment of more comprehensive legislation.”
Within that $89 million, the Senate bill provides funds for siting, design, licensing, and construction of one or more consolidated storage facilities; for the provision of financial and technical assistance associated with a consent-based siting process, including education, technical analyses, and other support to entities considering hosting an interim storage facility; and for incentive payments to entities with signed agreements with jurisdictions eligible under the general provision.
The Senate bill stands in stark contrast to the House-passed version of the legislation, which looks to breathe new life into the shuttered Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository project, including more than $200 million to support licensing review. The House bill would provide $150 million to the Department of Energy “to carry out the purposes of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982,” which designates Yucca Mountain as the site for a repository; and $55 million to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue the adjudication of DOE’s Yucca Mountain License application.
