March 17, 2014

YUCCA MOUNTAIN CONTINUES TO ENJOY SUPPORT FROM HOUSE APPROPRIATORS

By ExchangeMonitor

The House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee also is set to provide $656.3 million for DOE’s Nuclear Energy program, with $5 million of that to “be made available to affected units of local government … to support the Yucca Mountain high-level waste geological repository,” according to a draft version of the FY 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act released yesterday. In addition to that, the House bill would make all funds derived from the Nuclear Waste Fund transferrable to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission “to support the Yucca Mountain high-level waste geologic repository license application.” The Obama Administration declared the Yucca Mountain program unworkable in 2009, and in 2010 the NRC suspended review of the DOE’s license application for the project. However, the issue of whether to restart that review is currently under review by a federal court.

The House also matched the Administration’s request for $104 million for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program for FY 2014, a marked increase from the $89 million currently slated the program under the continuing appropriations resolution. The proposed amount would be a decrease from FY 2012, when the program was budgeted $110 million. The FUSRAP program funds the clean-up of certain low-level radioactive materials and mixed wastes, located mostly at sites contaminated as a result of the nation’s early efforts to develop atomic weapons.

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