Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Wednesday signed legislation that will cut radioactive waste disposal fees paid by EnergySolutions by more than $1.7 million per year.
State Rep. John Knotwell (R) in January filed the bill to reduce the flat fee paid by radioactive waste disposal facilities in Utah by the amount they paid in taxes in the prior year. Knotwell called the fee an “existence tax” on EnergySolutions’ site near the unincorporated community of Clive — the state’s sole low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal facility.
The fee has reportedly cost the Salt Lake City-based nuclear services company $300 million over the last 16 years, beyond the various taxes it still must pay.
The legislation proved controversial in Utah, with critics noting EnergySolutions has been able to pay the fee until now and that the state could use the money for education or other needed services, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. In 2017, the company was the No. 1 single contributor to state lawmakers, including $6,000 for Knotwell, according to the newspaper.
“We appreciate Governor Herbert, his staff, and members of the legislature for their careful review of HB169,” EnergySolutions said in a statement Thursday. “The misinformation spread by opponents of the bill made it difficult to have a reasonable dialogue and we are grateful to all those who took the time to study the issue and understand that this bill was always about fairness in fees and not about tax reductions.”
U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) on Monday offered an optimistic outlook on the future of the planned nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
“Whether it’s been in the courts or Congress, we are winning the battle on Yucca, but we’re not there yet,” Fleischmann said in a prerecorded video message to attendees of the 2018 Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix, Ariz.
The lawmaker, whose congressional district includes the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation, emphasized the importance of finding a permanent home for the growing domestic stockpile of high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors.
His optimism derives from the strong bipartisan support shown for legislation from Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) that is intended to strengthen the federal government’s ability to build the repository, a spokeswoman for Fleischmann said. The House Energy and Commerce Committee last June voted 49-4 in favor of the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017, which is still awaiting a floor vote.
It has been more than three decades since Congress designated the Nye County, Nev., site as the intended location for permanent disposal of U.S. nuclear waste However, it has not yet been licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and is being fought tooth-and-nail by the state of Nevada.
The Trump administration has sought funding for the current budget year and the upcoming fiscal 2019 for DOE and the NRC to resume licensing proceedings halted by the Obama administration. While the House has supported that funding, the Senate has not – Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) last week told Energy Secretary Rick Perry the upper chamber would continue to reject any budget requests for Yucca Mountain.
Fleischmann noted that even if Yucca Mountain is built, some waste would still need storage elsewhere. The repository’s current legal capacity is 70,000 metric tons, less than the over 75,000 metric tons (and growing) of spent fuel already held on-site at nuclear plants around the country. That also doesn’t include defense waste that would be shipped to Nevada. The Shimkus bill, though, would raise the legal capacity to 110,000 metric tons.
“Some states are much more friendly towards taking the waste. The state of Texas has been very gracious and is willing to take and deposit nuclear waste. But Yucca, we’ve got so much money spent that we really need to make sure we get that done,” Fleischmann said.
Waste Control Specialists and Orano earlier this month announced plans to restart WCS’ suspended application for an NRC license to build and operate a facility in West Texas for interim storage of up to 40,000 metric tons of spent fuel until a permanent repository is ready.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should ignore a request from a number of New Mexico state lawmakers to slow its technical review of plans for a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel, according to one elected official in the county that would house the site.
In separate letters sent in February, nine state senators and 21 state representatives asked the NRC to extend its 45-day public scoping comment period for Holtec International’s license application for its independent spent fuel storage installation. The comment period would end well before the New Mexico Legislature meets again in 2019, but the lawmakers want time for the legislative body and state agencies to review and comment on the project.
“If these legislators are not sufficiently informed by now of Holtec’s plan, they have not been doing their job and have certainly had many opportunities to become informed,” Ron Black, chairman of the Lea County Board of County Commissioners, wrote in a March 14 letter to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki and Commissioners Jeff Baran and Stephen Burns.
The Camden, N.J., energy technology company in March 2017 filed its license application covering 8,680 metric tons of used fuel – the first segment of what could be up to 120,000 metric tons of waste stored underground between the southeastern cities of Hobbs and Carlsbad. In February, the NRC docketed the application for a full technical review.
Black noted that Holtec and the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, the organization of local communities partnering on the project, had provided legislative panels with a number of presentations on the facility over the last three years. Both houses of the New Mexico Legislature have approved memorials in support of the plan, which also has the backing of Gov. Susana Martinez, the county official wrote.
“It should be noted that the NRC licensing process is very public and will take approximately two years,” Black wrote. “During this time, people, including legislators will have ample time to ask questions and to assure themselves of the [project’s] safety.”
As of deadline Friday, the NRC had acknowledged the letters from Black and the New Mexico lawmakers, but had not sent full responses.
San Clemente, Calif., Mayor Tim Brown has invited Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) to visit the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Plant (SONGS).
In a Feb. 7 letter to the lawmaker, posted this week on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission website, Brown said a visit by Harris “could result in sharpened policy push to recognize communities near nuclear stations that bear an elevated level of risk and this requires remedy.”
The San Diego County plant closed permanently in 2013, the year after it halted operations due to faulty steam generators installed in its two remaining active reactors. Majority owner Southern California Edison is transferring spent fuel from the two reactors to on-site dry storage. In total, including used fuel from a reactor that closed in 1992, about 3.5 million pounds of waste will remain in storage near the Pacific coast.
In an August 2017 settlement for a lawsuit against the waste storage plan, Southern California Edison agreed to take steps to find an off-site location for the used fuel. Ultimately, the Department of Energy is required to place the material in a permanent repository.
“Since DOE has failed to address their lawful obligations to create a permanent spent nuclear fuel repository or develop any other solution, Southern California and San Clemente, by default, have become a permanent waste repository,” Brown wrote. “This outcome ·is unacceptable to our residents and if demands remedy.”
SONGS is about 6 miles from San Clemente.
Brown noted that Harris’ staff has visited SONGS “and made themselves available” to work on the matter. His office said Harris had not as of Monday responded to the letter. Harris’ office could not be reached for comment this week.
In February, Harris introduced legislation that would prohibit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from issuing safety and emergency preparedness exemptions while a nuclear power plant retains spent fuel in its reactor or cooling pool. The measure has been referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
From The Wires
From the Brattleboro Reformer: Spent fuel transfer at the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant suspended temporarily.
