GAO Releases Road Map for Restarting Yucca Mountain ECA Staff May 26, 2017 Today, GAO released a road map for the resuming licencing activities for the Yucca Mountain Repository. The report identifies 4 key steps needed to restart the process, which
are:
1. The Commission and parties receiving direction to resume the licensing process, and the Commission deciding on the timing
and other details, so NRC and parties can identify their funding needs for the adjudication.
2. Rebuilding organizational capacity, including, as needed, recruiting personnel to recreate DOE's, NRC's, and non-federal parties' project offices; obtaining legal, scientific, or other experts for the adjudication; and rebuilding physical infrastructure. Also at this step, DOE and NRC may need to update key documents used for the licensing process.
3. Reconvening the parties and completing the
remaining phases of the adjudication, including witness depositions and evidentiary hearings.
4. Carrying out the process's remaining steps, including the Commission's final decision on whether to authorize construction of the
repository.
NRC's FY 2018 Congressional
budget request asks for $30 million to resume the Yucca licencing process. According to the report, the NRC has estimated that the cost of completing
the licensing review may require upwards of $330 million over a 5-year period. The President has requested $120 million to resume work on licencing and to create an interim storage program for spent nuclear fuel and high-level
waste.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee originally requested the report in February of 2016 (see letter HERE). Energy Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Environment Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL) issued the following statement today on the report:
“While some challenges remain, this report provides DOE and NRC a road map to take the necessary steps to complete the Yucca Mountain license. Completing the licensing process is of critical importance because it provides the state of Nevada the opportunity to publicly make their case in
front of independent NRC judges,” said Upton and Shimkus. “As the committee works toward comprehensive legislation regarding our nuclear waste policy, we will work in coordination with DOE to address the issues outlined in this
report.”
The Committee is expected soon to vote on nuclear waste legislation that would reaffirm Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository and also authorize DOE to pursue interim storage facilities in parallel with licensing activities. You can watch archived video of the hearing on the legislation HERE. DOE to seek public input on regulations to scrap The Department of Energy is seeking public comment on which regulations it ought to scale back or eliminate entirely, reports Politico's Darius Dixon.
"Comments and information from interested parties to assist DOE in identifying existing regulations, paperwork requirements and other regulatory obligations
that can be modified or repealed, consistent with law, to achieve meaningful burden reduction while continuing to achieve the Department's statutory obligations.
"[...] The Department's goal is to create a systematic method for identifying those existing DOE rules that are obsolete, unnecessary, unjustified, or simply no longer make
sense."
This solicitation for public input comes in light of President Trump's Executive Order issued earlier this year which
instructs all executive agencies to identify "outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective" regulations for potential repeal or modification.
The deadline for comments is July 14, 2017. Instructions for how to
submit comments will be found in Federal
Register. |
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| June 2017 | | 7 | Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Public Hearing on the Plutonium Facility at LANL |
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| June 2017 | | 7 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Event |
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| June 2017 | | 7-8 | EM SSAB Meeting, Hanford |
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| June 2017 | | 14 | INVITATION
ONLY
ECA High-Level Waste Committee Strategic Session |
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| June 2017 | | 14 | EM SSAB Meeting, Oak Ridge Reservation |
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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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