Appropriators May Be Close to Final Deal on FY'17 Omnibus Association of Defense Communities April 20, 2017 Republican and Democratic appropriators hope to reach a deal on a fiscal 2017 spending package by Friday, leaving both houses part of one work week to clear an 11-bill omnibus before a continuing resolution (CR) runs out
April 28. Democrats now are awaiting a GOP response regarding all outstanding issues involved in the negotiations, reports CQ Roll Call. Several aides said Friday was not a hard deadline for reaching a final agreement, although any further delay likely would require lawmakers to pass another short-term
CR.
It appears the spending package could include an
additional $15 billion for DOD in its overseas contingency operations account, with Democrats demanding a corresponding increase in non-defense emergency funds. The package most likely won’t include President Trump’s request for more than $1 billion to build a border wall, a move which would have drawn Democratic opposition to the
measure.
Subcommittee on Environment to Examine Legislative Discussion Draft Related to Nation’s Nuclear Waste
Management U.S. House of Representativeshe Augusta Chronicle April 19, 2017 WASHINGTON, DC – The Subcommittee on Environment, chaired by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), today announced a hearing for Wednesday, April 26, 2017, at 10 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled, “H.R.___, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017.”
In the 114th Congress, the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy held seven hearings and the committee sent five letters to inform the committee’s efforts as it relates to a comprehensive solution for the nation’s nuclear waste management policy. Next week, #SubEnvironment will examine H.R.___, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017, which provides practical reforms to the nation’s nuclear waste management policy to ensure the federal government’s obligations to dispose of used nuclear fuel and high-level waste can be fulfilled. The discussion draft serves to facilitate feedback from stakeholders as to how best to update our nuclear waste management
policy.
“We look forward to receiving feedback on this discussion draft,” said full committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and subcommittee Chairman Shimkus. “This proposal was thoughtfully developed through an extensive record of hearings and other oversight over the past six years to identify what may be needed to strengthen the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Now it is time to get our nation’s nuclear waste management policy back on track through consideration
of this legislative proposal.”
For a list of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s work on nuclear waste management policy, click HERE.
The Majority Memorandum, witness list, and witness testimony for the hearing will be available HERE as they are
posted. >>Continue
readingDallas company’s West Texas nuclear waste project on hold Star-Telegram April 19,
2017 A proposal to bring
the nation’s spent nuclear fuel to West Texas appears to be on the ropes.
Waste Control Specialists, which stores low-level radioactive waste in Andrews County, has asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
temporarily suspend a review of its application to store tens of thousands of metric tons of spent nuclear fuel currently scattered at reactor sites throughout the country. The Dallas-based company pitched the massive expansion as a solution to a problem that has bedeviled policymakers for
decades.
The reason for the requested freeze? The company, which runs the state’s only radioactive waste dump, is bleeding cash and is struggling to find the estimated $7.5 million needed to continue the licensing process.
Waste Control Specialists “is faced with a magnitude of financial burdens that currently make pursuit of licensing unsupportable,” Rod Baltzer, the company’s president and CEO, said in a letter to the federal commission dated Tuesday.
The review’s price tag caught the company off guard, Baltzer wrote. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not respond to a request for
comment. >>Continue
readingHeller says he’ll work to stymie Trump administration proposals that would hurt
Nevada Las Vegas Review Journal April 17, 2017 CARSON CITY — U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., vowed to work against any proposal from the Trump administration that would hurt
Nevada.
Speaking to the Nevada Legislature Monday evening, Heller said he would support President Donald Trump’s administration
when he agrees, and “try to change their minds” on other topics.
The senator pointed to the Yucca Mountain project, which Trump is trying to revive by
calling for $120 million in his proposed budget to restart the project as a nuclear waste dumping site. Heller called that a “reckless proposal.”
>>Continue
readingSkepticism Mounts Over DOE's Deep Borehole Waste Program Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board April 19, 2017 By tabling a vote last Thursday on whether they will
support a U.S. Department of Energy plan to drill a 3-mile-deep borehole on private property to test the feasibility of burying nuclear waste in deep wells, Otero County commissioners joined a growing list of skeptics of the project.
A nearly identical project is being planned near Nara Visa in Quay County, and that County Commission has come out against the project
there.
With the 2010 shutdown of the planned nuclear waste
storage facility at Yucca Mountain, Nev., the DOE has been looking at other ways to dispose of the nation’s thousands of tons of nuclear waste scattered at temporary storage facilities throughout the country.
DOE has embarked on an estimated five-year, $80 million project to collect data on whether 16,000-foot boreholes drilled into crystalline rock formations are a viable storage method. The department has awarded contracts to four private companies to provide that
data. >>Continue reading DOE outlines priorities for cleanup in New Mexico The Los Alamos Monitor April 18,
2017 The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos Environmental Management Field Office outlined its
immediate priorities for safety and cleanup this week at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Those projects included the remediation of a chromium plume under Mortandad Canyon, and dealing with the 60 barrels of toxic waste and nitrate salts involved in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant accident in
2014.
“The Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office’s biggest priorities right now are the safety of the workers and the public as we execute our mission,” said Steven Horak, the field office spokesman said in a written statement
Thursday.
The Lab is to start treatment of barrels this spring. The 60 barrels of
transuranic waste are stored at Area G in an air conditioned and filtered facility that’s kept at a constant 57 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lab workers have also installed a special filter and venting systems on the barrels’ lids as further prevention against the type of accident that happened at
the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad in February 2014. >>Continue readingNRC Seeks Public Comment on Draft Regulatory Basis for Small Modular Reactors Emergency Preparedness Requirements U.S. NRC April 18, 2017 The Nuclear
Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on a draft regulatory basis for new emergency preparedness requirements fro small modular reactors and other new technologies, such as non-light water reactor facilities.
The draft
regulatory basis is available in the NRC's ADAMs online database HERE. Comments will be accepted through June 27. A Federal Register notice, published April 13, explains several ways to submit comments, including over the fedral government's rulemaking website, wwww.regulations.gov, using Docket ID NRC-2015-0225. >>Continue reading |
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| April 2017 | | 20 | Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board,
Paducah |
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| April 2017 | | 26 | U.S. House of Rep. Hearing on Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 |
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| May 2017 | | 10-11 | Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board Chair Meeting |
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| June 2017 | | 7 | House Nuclear Cleanup
Caucus Event |
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| August 2017 | | 8-9 | Intermountain Energy Summitt |
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| August
2017 | | 16-17 | INVITATION ONLY ECA Peer Exchange: Implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Richland, WA |
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| September 2017 | | 12-14 | 2017 National Cleanup Workshop Alexandria, VA |
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| September 2017 | | 13 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Event Washington,
DC
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Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
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