In keeping with a 2013 federal court order, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has now spent most of its unobligated Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) money on efforts related to licensing the Energy Department’s planned geologic repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
The NRC recently reported to Congress that of the roughly $13.55 million of carryover funding that was on the books in August 2013, the total unobligated funding remaining on May 31 was less than $698,000.
“The unexpended NWF balance of $1,081,347 includes $383,610 of unexpended obligations,” according to the monthly report, sent on June 22 by NRC Chair Kristine Svinicki to Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The unexpended obligations are mainly on contracts with the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses and on contracts connected with loading Licensing Support Network (LSN) documents into the NRC database.
In August 2013, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the NRC to “promptly continue with the legally mandated licensing process” for Yucca Mountain, the congressionally mandated location for permanent storage of U.S. spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
The 2013 court decision effectively meant that although the Obama administration had terminated work on the facility, the NRC could not simply stop using available NWF money toward the technical review of Yucca Mountain.
Following the D.C. Circuit ruling, the NRC moved to, among other things, complete and issue its safety evaluation report on Yucca Mountain.
The Trump administration DOE plans to resume the Yucca Mountain license process. Its fiscal 2018 budget plan calls for providing the NRC with $30 million for licensing activities.
The state of Nevada estimates DOE will need $1.7 billion and the NRC $330 million for the licensing work that remains.