NRC Split on Future Yucca Funding Requests

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday revealed it is evenly split on whether it would support doubling proposed funding for the Yucca Mountain licensing review from the $25 million amount outlined in the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Act to a $50 million request for fiscal year 2017. During a joint hearing yesterday of the House Energy & Commerce subcommittees on Environment and the Economy, and Energy and Power, Commissioners Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff said they would cast votes in favor of the greater amount; Commissioner Jeff Baran said he would oppose the increase; and Chairman Stephen Burns said he would vote against it unless the Energy Department indicates its support.

 

Expressing his opposition, Baran said overfunding the licensing review could ignite a long, antagonistic, “trial-like” process to bring the license through a lengthy adjudication process which could include an applicant having to address close to 300 current outstanding contentions. He said problems can arise when applicants do not put in effort to defend their applications. He said: “The reason I haven’t supported asking for that money is that you have to have an applicant that’s committed to their application…. “Ultimately they have the burden of demonstrating that their application is going to be safe. I just don’t see how that process works. So you’d have to have an engaged applicant. DOE would need money to do that. We would need money to do that. There are a lot of things that you would need to make the process work.”