Legislation supporting consolidated interim storage for nuclear waste is unlikely to get consideration in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, a committee aide said Wednesday.
The Interim Consolidated Storage Act, the latest version of which was introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in January, would allow the Department of Energy to enter into public-private contracts for the storage of certain high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, using expenditures from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund.
The aide said the bill is not a priority for the Republican-led committee because it would directly compete with efforts to develop a national repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, as the bill requires mandatory spending from the Nuclear Waste Fund, a now-$34 billion fund that Congress appropriated for the sole purpose of developing Yucca. The bill has garnered 18 cosponsors, split evenly among Republicans and Democrats, including Rep. Michael Conaway (R-Texas), who submitted corresponding legislation in the prior Congress.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act, introduced by Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.), also appears to be a nonstarter in the committee. The bill would require DOE to obtain consent of affected state and local governments before making an expenditure from the Nuclear Waste Fund for a nuclear waste repository. According to the aide, if siting required consent from all local entities, nuclear fuel would never move. The bill has two Democratic cosponsors from Nevada, where most officials have long fought against the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) has introduced companion legislation in the Senate. It was referred to the upper chamber’s Environment and Public Works Committee.
Finally, the aide said that the House committee supports the concept for Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-S.C.) Sensible Nuclear Waste Disposition Act, which would prohibit DOE from planning, developing, or constructing a defense waste repository until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made a final decision on authorizing construction of the Yucca Mountain repository. However, the aide said the bill would need to be restructured to address interim storage.
