The Energy Department last week issued the first of what it said will be annual summaries of the finances for the federal fund intended to pay for the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev.
In a letter attached to the summary, DOE Deputy General Counsel Eric Fygi said the department was acceding to the April request for such a summary from the heads of the Nuclear Energy Institute, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition.
“We agree with you that presenting financial information about the [Nuclear Waste Fund] in this format has public value,” according to the June 15 letter, obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. “Therefore, the Department intends to publish an updated version of the attached ‘NWF Annual Financial Report Summary’ annually and within a reasonable time following the release of the annual NWF Audit Report and make the summary publically available on the Energy website going forward.”
The full audit was made public earlier this month. It showed that the Energy Department at the end of fiscal 2017 on Sept. 30 of last year held $44.5 billion in U.S. Treasury securities connected to the Nuclear Waste Fund.
The fund was established under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and fee collection from U.S. nuclear utilities began the next year.
From 1983 to fiscal 2017, the Nuclear Waste Fund collected $49.1 billion in total income, according to the summary. That encompassed: nearly $21.5 billion in receipts from commercial nuclear generators; over $23.8 billion in interest income, gains, and other revenues; and $3.8 billion from defense nuclear generators.
Expenditures totaled nearly $11.4 billion: $7.5 billion for “First Repository Costs” covering Yucca Mountain and other activities; just shy of $3.8 billion for other waste program activities; and $109 million for second repository costs.
Unexpended or undisbursed defense appropriations are listed at $13 billion.
The Yucca Mountain facility remains unlicensed and unbuilt, though the Trump administration has sought congressional appropriations to allow the Energy Department to restart its license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commisison. Congress has yet to approve any funding.
