While Congress is still not prepared to fund any work on the Yucca Mountain repository, it does plan to give the Department of Energy seemingly unwanted funding for other nuclear waste management operations in fiscal 2019.
The compromise version of the multiagency “minibus” appropriations bill unveiled Monday would also cut nearly $60 million in funding from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the budget year that begins Oct. 1.
The legislation is expected to receive House and Senate votes within a matter of days. The White House has not yet declared its position on the measure.
In the joint explanatory statement attached to the bill, the House and Senate said they would provide $63.9 million for used nuclear fuel disposition research and development at DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. The office, which manages the agency’s nuclear fuel cycle operations, would also receive $22.5 million for Integrated Waste Management System activities.
The Energy Department asked for just $10 million for “highest-priority” efforts in used fuel research and development. It wanted nothing for the Integrated Waste Management System, the Obama administration approach for disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste involving pilot storage site, full interim storage facilities, and finally one or more permanent repositories. The Trump administration has abandoned that approach in favor of interim storage and Yucca Mountain.
The conference bill zeroes out funding for licensing of Yucca Mountain – the Senate’s preferred appropriation for that project, against the White House request for nearly $170 million and the House proposal for close to $270 million.
In its budget bill, Congress set the Nuclear Regulatory Commission budget for salaries and expenses at $898.4 million, nearly $60 million shy of the $958.1 million the agency requested. The conference bill meets the NRC’s request for $12.6 million for its Inspector General’s Office.
An NRC spokesman said the agency could not discuss the budget.
