Source: Conaway Bill a Nonstarter

According to a GOP aide, who requested anonymity, the House Energy and Commerce Committee does not have any plans to consider House Resolution 3643, in part, because it does not address the need for the long-stalled national nuclear waste repository previously planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The source said the bill as drafted, which would allow DOE to tap into as much as $1 billion a year starting in 2016 for interim storage sites like those planned in West Texas and New Mexico, would impact overall funding for a permanent geologic repository.

The bill was introduced in September by Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. The bill as written could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for Waste Control Specialists, a waste company located in his Texas district. WCS plans to open a consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Andrews County, Texas, with the expectation of submitting a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in April. NRC is also expecting an application from Holtec International for a site in New Mexico, as DOE explores interim storage for America’s spent nuclear fuel.

Representatives for Conaway could not immediately be reached for comment.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) both have argued that Yucca Mountain must be the long-term answer for spent fuel management, as it is the directive in the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The NWF has amassed more than $30 billion and continues to earn interest between $800 million and $1.5 billion a year. For fiscal 2016, legislators did not include any new funding for Yucca Mountain, continuing Congress’ nuclear waste impasse.