Legislation to effectively remove Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the nation’s exclusive disposal site for high-level waste might have to wait until the new Congress takes office in January,, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) said this week.
The Tennessee lawmaker who has chaired the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee during the current Congress, told the Nuclear Industry Council’s New Nuclear Capital if Yucca Mountain revisions are not passed during the lame duck session, then it will have to happen in the new term.
Democrats made sweeping gains during last week’s mid-term elections and as a result will control both the Senate and House of Representatives majorities when the new Congress is installed the week of Jan. 3, 2027.
In his virtual comments to the New York City conference, Fleischmann tempered his expectations of updating the 1982 version of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) in the lame duck session. The NWPA and its 1987 amendments directed the Department of Energy to consider Yucca as the sole candidate to be considered before any other candidate sites could undergo a licensing review.
That requirement remains intact even though the Barack Obama administration effectively cancelled Yucca Mountain in early 2010.
As a result, Fleischmann stressed the current NWPA wording stands in the way of the DOE’s Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus initiative. The nuclear campus’ main focus is to address the nation’s nuclear waste management situation. It also offers other opportunities for advanced reactor deployment, reprocessing and other nuclear facilities as a part of the campus.
Tennessee, the state Fleischmann represents, Utah, Idaho, Louisiana and Oklahoma were announced by DOE to be participants in the program. West Virginia was briefly selected for the program, but withdrew in late September. Fleischmann said two additional states are looking at the program as well, but he did not say which states.
Fleischmann told industry members that President Donald Trump’s administration and DOE realized about two months ago the NWPA needed to be amended to allow for the nuclear campus program to allow a repository outside of Yucca.
“But as the Department [of Energy] reassessed the situation, they looked at it, and they realized that there needed to be a change in the authorization language in order to move forward,” Fleischmann said. “The [Trump] administration realized that probably about two months ago, and has been working primarily with authorizers. Remember, I’m an appropriator. I put the money up and advocate, but they actually make those laws.”
In a Wednesday article from Louisiana Illuminator, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Congress has to approve the amended legislation first before the nuclear campus program can move forward. Despite being in a pinch, Wright said the host states are still expected to be announced later this year or early 2027, according to the article.
The Trump administration has already sent Congress a draft legislative framework for a bill to authorize DOE to select one or more campuses and repeal Yucca as the sole repository. However, no action has been taken on the potential legislation yet as of this week.
Prior to the midterms, Fleischmann said at a separate industry event in late October he believed legislation to remove Yucca’s exclusivity could be passed during the lame duck session. Fleischmann reiterated that he preferred that the legislation be passed during this period rather than in the new Congress.
