Lanterna Rally

Author: Mark Holt

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13:

Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository. NWPA established an office in the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop such a repository and required the program's civilian costs to be covered by a fee on nuclear-generated electricity, paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund. Amendments to NWPA in 1987 restricted DOE's repository site studies to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DOE is studying numerous scientific issues at Yucca Mountain in pursuing a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the planned repository. Major questions about the site include the likelihood of earthquakes, volcanoes, water infiltration, and human intrusion. The FY2009 budget request for the nuclear waste program is $494.7 million, 28% above the FY2008 appropriation. However, the FY2008 level of $386.4 million is about $50 million below the FY2007 level and more than $100 million below the Administration's FY2008 request. The House Appropriations Committee approved DOE's full request for FY2009, and the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $388.4 million. Funding for the program is currently under a continuing resolution (P.L. 110-329). NWPA's goal for starting to load waste into the repository was 1998, but that date has been pushed back repeatedly. The latest budget cuts are likely to delay waste shipments to Yucca Mountain until at least 2020, according to program managers. DOE submitted a license application for the repository to NRC June 3, 2008, and NRC docketed the application September 8, 2008. NWPA requires NRC to issue a licensing decision within four years of receiving DOE's application. The NRC license is to be based on radiation exposure standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, which issued revised standards September 30, 2008. The Administration proposed legislation on March 6, 2007, to repeal the statutory cap on the amount of waste at Yucca Mountain, reduce the scope of environmental reviews for the repository, change budget procedures so that program funding could be increased more easily, exempt nuclear waste sent to Yucca Mountain from disposal requirements under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and allow preemption of state and local transportation requirements. A similar bill (H.R. 5360, S. 2589) did not pass in the 109th Congress.