The Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel said during his confirmation hearing Thursday the agency should follow the law on establishing a nuclear waste repository below Yucca Mountain in Nevada
During the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee session, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) asked how William Cooper would approach the long-planned disposal site in her home state. Cooper said DOE should “follow the statutory mandates on Yucca Mountain.”
The lawyer’s comments were in line with those of his prospective boss, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who has said the federal government must follow the “rule of law” when it comes to disposal of radioactive waste.
In a 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the final home for the U.S. stockpile of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear reactor fuel. Progress since then has been halting, and the site has yet to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Trump administration has sought funding to resume the licensing effort suspended nearly a decade ago by its predecessor; while the House has supported the effort, the Senate has consistently zeroed out all appropriations for Yucca Mountain.
The Nevada senator also asked Cooper if DOE would support consent-based siting for a nuclear waste repository. That would depend on the specifics of the proposed legislation coming out of Congress, he replied. This was a follow-up question after Cortez Masto asked Cooper’s opinion on findings of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. The nominee said he wasn’t familiar with details of the commission report.
