Even as it abandoned efforts to revive the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, the Trump administration on Monday signaled plans for the federal government to resume collecting fees for the fund intended to pay for the facility.
The White House budget for fiscal 2021 provides nothing to resume the long-moribund licensing for radioactive waste disposal under Yucca Mountain by the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This is a significant break from the administration’s prior proposals in three consecutive budget cycles to fund licensing, all of which were rejected by Congress.
Instead, the proposed $35.4 billion Energy Department budget would provide $27.5 million for an Interim Storage and Nuclear Waste Fund Oversight program, managed by the undersecretary for energy. That would support implementing a “robust” program for interim storage of radioactive waste, along with research and development of technologies for storage, transportation, and disposal, according to the budget plan from the White House.
“I think the president’s made a very key and important decision here,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said Monday during a conference call with reporters on his agency’s spending plan. “For decades, Congress has chosen not to act on Yucca Mountain … and the president finally said enough. We’re going to tackle this issue, we’re going to look at new technologies that might allow us to address the spent fuel. Importantly, we’re going to work with governors, we’re going to work with policy-makers, we’re going with private industry to fine solutions that may turn out to be on an interim basis, but we’re going to find solutions to this important problem.”
Page 114 of the White House budget contains a table on mandatory and receipt proposals through 2030. In the Energy section is a line item for “Restart Nuclear Waste Fund fee in 2023.” It indicates the restart would provide annual receipts above $300 million – starting with $346 million in fiscal 2023 and drifting down to settle in at $325 million yearly from 2026 to 2030. That would generate more than $2.6 billion over eight years, according to the table.
No other budget documents released this week by the White House or Energy Department appear to reference the restart of fee collection. Queried by RadWaste Monitor, DOE issued a brief statement affirming the Trump administration’s commitment to a “nuclear waste disposal solution.” The White House Office of Management and Budget did not respond to queries.
The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act established the fund, which would be financed through fees paid by nuclear utilities and other owners of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. That money would then pay for the Energy Department to take title to, transport, and dispose of the waste. The law specifies that expenditures from the fund are allowed “only for purposes of radioactive waste disposal activities.” The law was amended in 1987 to direct that the waste go only to Yucca Mountain – a point Brouillette and other DOE officials previously emphasized in arguing for funding the program.
The Obama administration suspended fee collections in May 2014, following a order the previous November from a federal appeals court. The court determined the Energy Department had not demonstrated a “legally justifiable basis” to sustain fee collection without having a clear plan for nuclear waste management, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“It is important to remember that the court ordered the Fee suspended because the Government does not currently have a program that is compliant with the law,” Caleb Ward, director of the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, said by email Wednesday. “For the fee to be restarted, the government must have a program that is fully compliant with the law; and current law is developing a repository at Yucca Mountain.”
There is no indication in available documentation that the Trump administration intends to resume a repository program in conjunction with a restart to fee collections.
Another industry source characterized the Nuclear Waste Fund fee restart line item as “smoke and mirrors” to suggest future revenue to support the Trump administration’s federal deficit-reducing budget numbers. It raises several questions, including whether the White House Office of Management and Budget assumes the federal government will eventually proceed with Yucca Mountain or a change in law to allow for another disposal site, and whether it believes Congress can pass such a law on a highly sensitive topic.
The United States today holds about 100,000 metric tons of high-level waste and used fuel at more than 70 locations. Roughly four-fifths of that is spent fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors, a stockpile that grows by up to 2,500 metric tons per year.
Nuclear utilities signed “Standard Contracts” with the federal government to pay the fees with the understanding that the federal government would by Jan. 31, 1998, begin accepting waste for disposal. They paid more than $40 billion over several decades, well after the deadline had come and gone without disposal starting, Brouillette noted Monday.
The Energy Department in 2008, during the George W. Bush administration finally filed its application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and geologic repository on federal land about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. After President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, he quickly defunded the proceeding. Following the 2012 recommendations of a blue-ribbon panel of experts, the Obama DOE eventually embarked on a program for “consent-based” siting for separate disposal sites for defense and commercial waste.
That approach was still in development when President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. His administration then changed course again, seeking funds in fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020 to resume licensing for Yucca Mountain at the Energy Department and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The last ask totaled about $150 million at the two agencies.
Congress turned back each attempt, but also rejected efforts by Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and other lawmakers to provide money to spur consolidation and interim storage of spent nuclear fuel until a repository is ready.
The White House finally changed strategy, previewed by a Feb. 6 tweet from Trump: “Nevada, I hear you on Yucca Mountain and my Administration will RESPECT you! Congress and previous Administrations have long failed to find lasting solutions – my Administration is committed to exploring innovative approaches – I’m confident we can get it done!”
Within an hour of the president’s statement, the Office of Management and Budget confirmed Yucca Mountain funding was off the table for fiscal 2021.
On Monday, the Energy Department said in its budget in briefThe the $27.5 million would be intended largely for operations to prepare for “near-term deployment of interim storage to ensure safe and effective consolidation and temporary storage of nuclear waste. The Request also includes funding for continued oversight for the [Nuclear Waste Fund] fiduciary responsibilities for the Yucca Mountain site to include the security, maintenance, and environmental requirements.”
“We’re still working to get more clarity on what exactly the administration is proposing to fund,” Jordan Haverly, spokesman for resolutely pro-Yucca Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), said by email on Tuesday. “That said, it’s important to remember that while the president proposes, its Congress alone that disposes funds.”
Notably, the White House document emphasizes fielding waste management technologies “where there is a willingness to host” – a seeming throwback to the Obama administration’s consent-based approach for radioactive waste storage and disposal.
Two separate corporate teams are seeking 40-year licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate consolidated interim storage facilities in New Mexico and Texas. Holtec International wants to build a facility for storage that ultimately could hold more than 100,000 metric tons of used fuel in Lea County, N.M. Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of Orano and Waste Control Specialists, plans a site for up to 40,000 metric tons in Andrews County, Texas. Both teams are aiming for decisions from the NRC around mid-2021.
Those facilities, though, would not take high-level waste stored at Energy Department properties such as the Hanford Site in Washington state and Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
The DOE budget would separately provide $111.5 million under the Office of Nuclear Energy for fuel cycle research and development, including work on storage, transportation, and disposal systems for used fuel. That amount would be well under half of the $267 million enacted for this year. In total, the Nuclear Energy office would be funded at nearly $1.5 billion.
