DOE rumored to be restarting Yucca Mountain program this year ECA Staff April 27, 2017 According to three unnamed sources, the U.S. Department of Energy is preparing to formally resume its Yucca Mountain program before the start of fiscal year 2018, reports Politico PRO's Darius
Dixon.
The "skinny" budget released by President Trump last month called for $120 million in
FY'18 to resume licencing of Yucca Mountain, a process hauled under the Obama Administration. The budget blueprint also called for the start of an interim storage program for the nation's nuclear waste.
In anticipation of future funding, DOE is set to begin rebuilding the Yucca
Mountain program in the current fiscal year, though Politico PRO's unnamed sources had no information on when a formal announcement on this development is to be expected.
DOE is estimated to already have about $20 million in previously appropriated money to spend on the reestablishment of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, which would oversee Yucca Mountain
activities. However, DOE funding is not the only concern for repository proponents. The Nuclear Regulatory Agency has little money to complete its licencing activities and will therefore require funds in FY'18.
Sub-Committee Examines Legislation on the Nation’s Nuclear Waste Management U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee April 26, 2017 WASHINGTON, DC – The Subcommittee on Environment, chaired by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), today held a hearing examining a discussion draft of legislation related to the nation’s nuclear waste
management.
H.R.___, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017, provides practical reforms to the nation’s nuclear waste management policy to ensure the federal government’s obligations to dispose used nuclear fuel and high-level waste can be fulfilled. The discussion draft builds on the committee’s previous work as it relates to ensuring a comprehensive solution for
the nation’s nuclear waste management policy. In the 114th Congress, the Subcommittee on Environment and the economy held seven hearings to inform its efforts to draft legislation.
Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), discussed the ongoing storage problems states face due to the delay in getting Yucca Mountain across the finish line, “Today, there are currently 121 communities across 39
states that are grappling with the limitations of storing nuclear waste while our country lacks a permanent geological repository. Communities of my home state of South Carolina, in the Chairman’s state of Illinois, the Ranking Member’s state of New York – in the home states of the majority of members of the committee all store nuclear material. Each of the 121 communities has been forced to store nuclear waste while they wait for the federal government to honor its promise by providing interim
storage at Yucca Mountain.” >>Continue
readingYucca Mountain Bill Can Overcome Nevada Opposition: Shimkus Bloomberg BNA April 26, 2017 Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said he is confident the Energy Department will back Congress’s efforts to restart work on Yucca Mountain as a permanent
repository for the nation’s nuclear waste, despite opposition from Nevada leadership.
“I met with [Energy Secretary] Rick Perry. I’m fully confident. I think we have an administration that wants to comply with the law,” Shimkus told reporters after an April 26 House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment Subcommittee hearing on draft legislation to restart work on Yucca
Mountain. >>Continue readingAppropriators offer one-week stopgap
spending bill Politico April 27, 2017 House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen late Wednesday released a short-term spending bill that would give lawmakers an extra week to strike a final deal and avert a government
shutdown.
In announcing the stopgap bill, top Republican appropriators in both chambers said lawmakers are close to an agreement that would fully fund the government through September, but they need more time to hash out final details before the Friday deadline for fiscal 2017 funding. >>Continue readingNUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION US regulators open SMR emergency planning
debate World Nuclear News April 24, 2017 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public comment on a draft regulatory basis for new emergency preparedness requirements for small modular reactors (SMRs) and new technologies such as non-light water reactor facilities. A regulatory basis is an early stage in the NRC's rulemaking
process.
The NRC's current emergency preparedness regulations are based upon the projected off-site radiation dose in the event of a severe nuclear accident, and were developed based on the large light-water reactors that make
up the country's operating nuclear fleet. According to the draft regulatory basis, the current regulations do not adequately address advances in reactor designs, reactor safety research, and their applications to the SMRs and other advanced reactor technologies now being developed. The smaller reactor core size or innovative safety features of such reactors are likely to lead to lower risk or less challenging accident conditions than for large-scale LWRs, the NRC
said. >>Continue reading |
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| May 2017 | | 10 | NRC Meeting on Draft Regulatory Basis for SMR Emergency Preparedness Rulemaking |
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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 | | 5-7 | Radwaste Summitt 2017 Summerlin, NV |
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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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