GOP leaders of key energy panels in the House urged the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory commission to heed the recommendations in a Government Accountability Office report issued Friday to restart Yucca Mountain.
The report, ordered in 2016 by Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.), recommended that DOE and NRC move quickly to rebuild the organizational structure and technical expertise they need to complete the process of licensing Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., as a repository for the more than 70,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel now stored at nuclear power plants across the country.
“While some challenges remain, this report provides DOE and NRC a roadmap to take the necessary steps to complete the Yucca Mountain license. Completing the licensing process is of critical importance because it provides the state of Nevada the opportunity to publicly make their case in front of independent NRC judges,” said Upton and Shimkus. “As the committee works toward comprehensive legislation regarding our nuclear waste policy, we will work in coordination with DOE to address the issues outlined in this report.”
Upton and Shimkus, respectively the chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce Committee energy and environment subcommittees, ordered the report in 2016. The GAO conducted its investigation from March 2016 to April 2017.
The congressional investigative office told DOE and NRC they should move quickly to:
- Identify their funding needs for the adjudication.
- Rebuild organizational capacity, including, as needed, recruiting personnel to recreate DOE’s, NRC’s, and nonfederal parties’ project offices; obtain legal, scientific, or other experts for the adjudication; and rebuild physical infrastructure.
- Reconvene the parties and complete the remaining phases of the adjudication, including witness depositions and evidentiary hearings.
- Carry out the process’s remaining steps, including the Commission’s final decision on whether to authorize construction of the repository.
The Donald Trump administration has requested $110 million in 2018 for DOE to resume its Yucca Mountain license application with NRC. Pro- and anti-Yucca experts estimate it could take between two and five years for the agency and prospective host-state Nevada to litigate their differences about the application before NRC’s Atomic Safety Licensing Board. The state strongly opposes the project.
