The new entity charged with managing U.S. spent nuclear fuel should be further separated from political motivations, and shouldn’t be headed by a political appointee, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert said in comments sent to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee late last week. Hastert sent the letter on behalf of Dickstein Shapiro, LLP, the law firm he now works for which represents several communities interested in hosting nuclear storage and/or disposal facilities. Hastert says establishing another government agency—as recommended in the April 25 discussion draft of new nuclear legislation—would set the country up to repeat the missteps of the Department of Energy, whose leadership has been “ineffective at best” on disposing of spent fuel. In addition, consent-based siting decisions that new entity makes should not be subject to Congressional approval, Hastert says. The legislation discussion draft was introduced by a bipartisan group of Senators, including the chair of the committee, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
The letter emphasized the primary importance of “tangible actions” on dealing with nuclear waste, and called the 2048 timeline for a geologic repository set by the Administration in its January strategy “unduly protracted.” “A sense of urgency must be established, and the Congress must make it a high priority to take tangible steps to correct the failures of the past,” Hastert wrote. The Senate energy committee’s comment period for the legislation ended May 24, and an aide yesterday said they have received more than 2,000 comments. There are plans to make all comments public.
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