The Trump administration is again proposing to fund resumption of licensing for the long-planned, long-delayed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
The Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, respectively the applicant and adjudicator for the license, together requested just over $154 million for the 2020 federal fiscal year. That is down by more than $10 million from their proposals for interim storage and permanent disposal of radioactive waste in the current budget – nearly all of which was for Yucca Mountain.
In its new budget request, released Monday, the Department of Energy said it wants $116 million for its Yucca Mountain and Interim Storage Program. That would be a $4 million reduction from the proposal from fiscal 2019.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requested $38.5 million for Yucca Mountain operations. That is down from $47.7 million sought for the current budget.
Congress gave the agencies nothing for this work in fiscal 2019, as it did in fiscal 2017.
Speaking to reporters Monday morning, senior DOE officials said the request for Yucca Mountain funding is in line with federal law. In its 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Congress directed that the federal property about 100 miles from Las Vegas be the only site considered for permanent disposal of spent fuel from nuclear power reactors and high-level waste from defense nuclear operations.
The Energy Department submitted its license application to the NRC in 2008, but the Obama administration halted the proceeding two years later.
“By proposing that even more money be wasted on Yucca Mountain, Trump has broken the promise he made to Nevadans during his recent visit to Elko,” Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) tweeted, referring to President Donald Trump’s statement in October that he “would be very inclined to be against” the repository.
In total, the Department of Energy is seeking $31.7 billion for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, down from the $35.7 billion Congress provided for this year. The NRC would take home $921.1 million, up by $10.1 million from the enacted budget.
