The fiscal 2017 House Energy and Water Appropriations Bill, released on Tuesday, calls for $150 million for the Nuclear Waste Disposal program and $20 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue adjudication of the Yucca Mountain license application.
The Obama administration’s 2017 budget proposal did not include any new funding for the Nuclear Waste Disposal program, instead laying out a funding plan meant to replace the nuclear waste deep geologic repository planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. That plan shows $56 million in fiscal 2018 and $94 million in fiscal 2019, before increasing into the $200 million to $300 million range in the following years. The Department of Energy is laying the groundwork for a consent-based siting program for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste that envisions plans for a pilot storage facility by 2021; consolidated interim facilities by 2025; and eventually one or more permanent repositories by 2048.
The appropriations bill also denies funding proposals for non-Yucca nuclear waste activities, according to the committee’s press release on Tuesday. Lawmakers could not immediately be reached for comment. Fiscal 2017 begins on Oct. 1.
