Key issues for ECA communities including reprocessing, consent-based siting, and the disposal of legacy defense waste were all raised during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources confirmation hearing for Dr. Kathryn Huff last week.
Dr. Huff was originally appointed last May as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary in the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) by the Biden Administration, and while awaiting confirmation to lead the Office, served as a Special Advisor to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
The hearing went smoothly, with bipartisan support for nuclear energy, energy independence, and for Dr. Huff’s ability to lead the Office from Committee Chairman Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Ranking Member Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY).
Of particular note, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) asked questions relating to her home state of Washington and the Hanford site. Following a line of questioning about managing nuclear waste, Senator Cantwell noted, “Separate defense and commercial waste. We could make rapid decisions about defense waste that I think would help this process.”
In regard to nuclear waste facilities, Dr. Huff touted the important role of a consent-based approach in siting interim storage sites for waste.
“In order for nuclear energy to be truly sustainable, we must solve nuclear waste problem. One of the first actions I took as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary was to restart our consent-based siting process for an interim storage facility with the support of Congress,” she said. “We do have a consent-based siting process that has begun with an RFI for the public. Through that process, I expect that the grassroots opinions of all the stakeholders in the
country can help us to formulate a strategy for our spent nuclear fuel that satisfies the needs of our country and identifies hosts that are willing, able, and interested to support the hosting of such a facility.”
Dr. Huff also noted the important work on developing new nuclear projects going on in states like Washington, Utah, and Wyoming. In addition, she made several references the uranium enrichment demonstration project at the Portsmouth site, citing its role in phasing out dependence on Russian-produced uranium.
ECA fully expects Dr. Huff to be confirmed and looks forward to continuing to meaningfully engage with Dr. Huff and her colleagues in NE.