Yucca Mountain Repository

U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) will remain in a leadership role on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where last year he began a concerted push for a policy bill to advance the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository toward realization. With the Democrats taking control of the House in the November midterm elections, though, Shimkus […]

The White House on Wednesday renominated Rita Baranwal to lead the Department of Energy’s nuclear power and waste activities. Baranwal was among more than 150 people nominated for federal jobs late Wednesday, many of whom were previously nominated but did not get Senate votes before the last Congress ended on Jan. 3. When one session […]

WASHINGTON — The United States still needs to find an isolated location to bury its nuclear waste, just not below Yucca Mountain in Nevada, former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko said Thursday. “The concept has always been bury it and forget. That’s the idea, that you could find a place where you could isolate […]

U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) will remain in a leadership role on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where last year he began a concerted push for a policy bill to advance the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository toward realization. With the Democrats taking control of the House in the November midterm elections, though, Shimkus […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in November spent just $901 of its remaining balance from the fund intended to pay for a permanent repository for radioactive waste. That left the agency with $414,118 in unobligated balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund, according to the latest expenditure report to Congress. Of the November spending, $379 was […]

Congress should fund the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada this year as part of a broader nuclear waste management approach, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), now officially the Department of Energy’s head Senate appropriator in the 116th Congress, said Wednesday. “This year, we should resolve the more than 30 year stalemate over how to dispose of […]

Congress should fund the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada this year, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), now officially the Department of Energy’s head Senate appropriator in the 116th Congress, said Wednesday. <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-conversation=”none” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>This year, we should resolve the more than 30 year stalemate over how to dispose of used nuclear […]

The 115th Congress ended Thursday without a Senate vote on confirmation of the White House nominee for assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy. That means Rita Baranwal would have to again be nominated and go through the confirmation process if she is to assume leadership of the Department of Energy’s nuclear power and waste missions. […]

A federal appeals court has dismissed the state of Nevada’s petition seeking to force a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to recuse himself from any decision-making on licensing the planned nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The ruling arrived as issue observers anticipate the Trump administration will in a matter of weeks again request […]

A federal appeals court has dismissed the state of Nevada’s petition seeking to force a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to recuse himself from any decision-making on licensing the planned nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. There is no cause yet to require Commissioner David Wright’s recusal because he might never be called on […]

The nominee for the top nuclear energy position at the Department of Energy could get another trip through the Senate confirmation process for Christmas, according to a spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Asked whether there was any chance that Rita Baranwal might be allowed a confirmation vote as assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the Senate’s lead appropriator for the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commisson, announced this week that he will leave the Senate after 2020. Alexander chairs the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, in which capacity he is the gatekeeper for upper chamber funding of a host of programs incluidng management […]

Last-minute efforts this week on Capitol Hill to funnel money into programs for storage and permanent disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste sputtered out quietly, overshadowed by Congress’ showdown with President Donald Trump over the federal budget. The seeminly quixotic endeavors were connected to congressional efforts to craft a budget funding the Homeland Security Department […]

After a fair amount of fanfare, a House bill to push forward development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada appears to have run out of time in the waning days of the 115th Congress. But, in securing strong votes of approval in committee and on the House floor, Rep. John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) […]

The U.S. Senate late Wednesday approved a short-term appropriations bill to keep all federal agencies operating through Feb. 8, but once again left the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada unfunded following an apparent push by supporters of the long-delayed project. Senators passed the latest continuing resolution by voice vote just after 10 p.m. […]

Despite chatter in recent weeks on Capitol Hill, it appeared unlikely Tuesday that Congress would provide the Department of Energy with funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in a federal appropriations bill needed to keep a number of federal agencies open past Friday. “Members and staff are working on completing [the] year-end spending […]

Nominees for high-level nuclear energy and weapons jobs at the Department of Energy could get another trip through the Senate confirmation procoess for Christmas, according to a spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Asked whether there was any chance that William Bookless and Rita Baranwal — nominees respectively for senior posts in DOE’s National […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to finally end the decades-long impasse in building a permanent resting place for the nation’s nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. That was one of a long series of recommendations listed in the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to overcome the long delay in disposal of tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. The steering committee that produced the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management” report said it is “unanimous […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in October spent $14,325 from its remaining Nuclear Waste Fund balance on federal court costs, according to its latest monthly update to Congress. That represented the large majority of the $15,727 spent from the fund during the month and left the agency with an unspent, unobligated balance of $415,019 as […]

The Energy Department is giving interested parties more time to weigh in on the proposed new interpretation of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The public comment deadline has been pushed back from Dec. 10 to Jan. 9, according to a DOE notice Tuesday in the Federal Register. Comments can be emailed to HLWnotice@em.doe.gov. After the department […]

Vocal proponents for establishing a permanent strategy for disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste, possibly at the always controversial Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, are preparing to ascend to leadership posts in Congress that have central roles in advancing the issue. When Democrats take control of the House of Representatives next month, Rep. Frank Pallone […]

In approving a very-short-term federal appropriations bill this week, Congress postponed a possible tussle over funding for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Several federal agencies are still waiting on a full budget for fiscal 2019, operating on a continuing resolution since Oct. 1. That bill expires today. Rather than try to […]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week joined a coalition of labor unions and other nongovernmental organizations in pressing Congress to end the long impasse over management of the nation’s spent nuclear reactor fuel. “Another year without progress on the Yucca Mountain repository license application and consolidated interim storage in untenable. It is time for […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in October spent $14,325 from its remaining Nuclear Waste Fund balance on federal court costs, according to its latest update to Congress. That represented the large majority of the $15,727 spent from the fund during the month and left the agency with an unspent, unobligated balance of $415,019 as of […]

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Sen.-elect Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) on Friday called on three top Democratic lawmakers to ensure the upcoming federal appropriations bill does not provide a cent for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility. There have been rumors, but no confirmation, that the budget bill needed to keep a number of […]

The federal government has paid $7.4 billion to resolve dozens of lawsuits from nuclear utilities over the Department of Energy’s failure to meet its legal obligation to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a new report. The Energy Department estimates its ultimate liability could exceed […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the […]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) this week called on the top leaders and appropriators in the House of Representatives to prevent any funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in her state in the next federal budget bill. “We are about a week out from the deadline to fund the government and there are efforts […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the 115th Congress. […]