The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would get a sizable budget boost in fiscal 2019, almost entirely from funding for its review of the license application for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada, under the energy and water funding bill approved Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee.
The panel’s roughly 90-minute markup ended without any specific discussion of the NRC budget, as lawmakers focused instead of funding levels for various Department of Energy offices. The committee voted 29-20 to send the measure to the full House; a floor vote had not been scheduled at deadline.
The nuclear industry regulator asked for $958.1 million for salaries and expenses in the budget year beginning Oct. 1, and House appropriators are recommending $953.1 million, according to the bill report released Tuesday. The bill would provide the full $12.6 million requested for the NRC Inspector General’s Office, bringing the agency total to $965.7 million.
The NRC received $921.9 million in the current fiscal 2018 under the omnibus budget signed into law in March. It asked for roughly $970.6 million for the next fiscal year. The House proposal would cut the request by $5 million but still come in $43.9 million above the current appropriation.
Congress this year zeroed out all funding at the NRC and Department of Energy to license the underground repository at Yucca Mountain for permanent disposal of spent reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste. But the House bill fully supports the regulator’s $47.7 million request for fiscal 2019, with the money taken from the Nuclear Waste Fund.
Within other accounts, the bill would meet the agency’s request for $110.6 million for nuclear materials and waste safety operations and $25.4 million for decommissioning and low-level waste work. Both would be down by over $2 million from enacted levels for fiscal 2018, according to the House report.
Of the total NRC funding, $774 million would be drawn from licensing fees, inspection services, and other collections. The remaining funding would come from congressional appropriations.
The bill also provides $15 million for the NRC’s Integrated University Program, which issues grants to support university programs in nuclear science, engineering, and associated fields. The agency for fiscal 2019 had not requested any funding for the program, which from 2008 to 2017 issued grants to 35 states and Puerto Rico.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board would be funded at $3.6 million for the year under the House bill. That is equal to its budget request and the amount appropriated for fiscal 2018. The 11-member board of scientists and engineers provides expert review of Department of Energy nuclear waste management operations.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would receive $7.3 billion under the House bill, $451 million above the current appropriation and $2.5 billion more than the Trump administration requested. Of that amount, $150 would be directed to the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) – $11 million more than it got this year and $30 more than the Army Corps sought.
Under FUSRAP, the Army Corps conducts environmental cleanup and maintenance of former locations of Manhattan Project and Atomic Energy Commission operations from the 1940s to 1960s. The program presently encompasses 25 locations in 10 states.
“The Committee continues to support the prioritization of sites, especially those that are nearing completion,” the House bill report says. “Within the funds provided in accordance with the budget request, the Corps is directed to complete the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study of the former Sylvania nuclear fuel site at Hicksville, New York, and, as appropriate, to proceed expeditiously to a Record of Decision and initiation of any necessary remediation in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).”
The Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee is scheduled to mark up its version of the bill on Tuesday, followed by a full committee review on Thursday. The legislation has not yet been made public.
