Language inserted into the fiscal 2019 “minibus” appropriations bill that Congress passed last week aims to help local jurisdictions offset the cost of being stuck with spent nuclear fuel from retired nuclear power plants.
If President Donald Trump signs H.R. 5895, the Department of Energy would have 180 days to submit to Congress a study on “existing public and private resources and funding for which municipalities where a nuclear power plant is decommissioned, in the process of decommissioning, or plans to shut down within 3 years of enactment of this Act and contains nuclear waste within its boundaries may be eligible.”
The language was promoted by Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), both House members of the conference committee that produced the compromise version of the funding bill, according to Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.). The measure was based on legislation Schneider introduced last year with Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).
“Communities like Zion have been saddled with storing our nation’s stranded nuclear waste while the federal government has failed to meet its legal obligation to find a permanent repository,” Schneider said in a press release. “They deserve compensation, and this new report is a step toward connecting these communities with critically needed federal assistance. I urge President Trump to sign this legislation into law, and I will continue to work to build on this progress by advancing the STRANDED Act to finally compensate communities like Zion what they deserve.”
Trump had not signed the bill as of deadline Tuesday. The White House had also not issued a statement of administration policy laying out its position on the legislation. The next fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
The Energy Department is more than two decades behind its congressionally mandated deadline of Jan. 31, 1998, to begin taking spent reactor fuel for disposal. The conference funding bill provides no money for the planned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. That is the amount the Senate wanted, while the House proposed close to $270 million for DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resume licensing proceedings for the underground disposal facility.