The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would get about $950 million in fiscal 2018 under one congressional spending plan: a roughly 5-percent year-over-year budget cut that still provides $30 million to review the Energy Department’s revived application to license Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., as a permanent nuclear waste repository.
The proposed budget is part of a nearly $38-billion Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee marked up Wednesday.
A detailed breakdown of the NRC budget will be part of the bill report slated to be released a day before the full House Appropriations Committee marks up the legislation. The markup had not been scheduled at press time for RadWaste Monitor, and Congress is out of session next week for the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
Experts estimate it will take between two years and five years to complete DOE’s Yucca Mountain license application, once the application process then-President Barack Obama halted in 2010 resumes.
The NRC has yet to reopen DOE’s application. Fiscal 2018 begins on Oct. 1.
