The House could pass its version of the FY13 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill (H.R. 5325) by the end of the day, with passage expected by the end of the week at the latest.

 

The chamber took up the measure last week, considering 13 amendments. Among those, the most relevant to ECA issues was an amendment put forward by Rep. Tonko (D-NY) to reduce the NNSA-Weapons Activities account by $180 million and increase the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy account by the same amount. The amendment was rejected.

 

The Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version of the bill (S. 2465) in late April, although the full Senate has not yet scheduled the measure for floor consideration.

 

For additional details on the FY13 budget process, refer to the Legislative Update in the May 2012 ECA Bulletin.

 

ECA will continue to monitor the FY13 Energy-Water bill and will update you upon the House's passage of the measure.

 

 

Additional details for the Senate's version of the FY13 National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3254), which authorizes funding for DOE's national security programs, are now available. The Government Printing Office has not yet posted a PDF version of Committee Report 112-173, although the report text can be found by taking the following steps:

It is unknown when the full Senate will take up the measure, although action is not expected until late June at the earliest.

 

The House passed its version of the FY13 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA; H.R. 4310) on May 18.

 

Senate subcommittee hearing, "Recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future for a Consent-Based Approach to Siting Nuclear Waste Storage and Management Facilities"
Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
Thursday, June 7, 2012 (10:00 AM)

 

 

Panel 1
 
Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft
President
The Scowcroft Group 
 
Professor Per Peterson
Chair
Department of Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley 

 

Panel 2
 
Mr. Geoffrey Fettus
Senior Project Attorney
Natural Resources Defense Council 
 
Mr. David Wright
President
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners 
 
Mr. Eric Howes
Director of Government and Public Affairs
Maine Yankee 
 
Dr. Daniel Metlay
Senior Professional Staff
U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board 
 
Mr. S. Andrew Orrell
Director of Nuclear Energy & Fuel Cycle Programs
Sandia National Laboratories 

 

 

Court Sides with Utilities in Nuclear Waste Fee Dispute
Nuclear Street
June 4, 2012

On Friday an appeals court ordered the Department of Energy to justify a fee levied to fund a repository for nuclear waste in light of a decision to end work on the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada.

 

The DOE must reassess the fee within six months. While the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia did not make the agency suspend the fee, it noted it could do so.

 

"Based on its finding that DOE has a 'disposition to delay,' the court appropriately ordered the energy secretary to reassess the fee within six months. The industry is pleased that the court retained jurisdiction over this matter, and further, ruled that it has authority to direct the secretary of energy to suspend collection of the fee," Ellen Ginsberg, general counsel of the Nuclear Energy Institute industry group, said in a release.

 

 

If DOE wants to tax N-waste storage, it should come up with a plan
Seattle Times Editorial
June 4, 2012

The Seattle Times editorial board welcomes the ruling in federal appeals court that the Department of Energy cannot continue to collect a tax for permanent nuclear storage unless it has a program to create it.

 

The federal court ruling Friday regarding the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository is a signpost on a road to nowhere. In effect, it says, "Stop. Decide where you are going before proceeding any further."

 

The issue in the lawsuit at the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, is a federal tax -- one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour -- on nuclear electricity. The tax has been collected since the early 1980s, and the money credited to the Nuclear Waste Fund. As of Sept. 30, 2011, this fund's total was $26.7 billion.

 

Most of the money came from the eastern half of the country, but customers of Energy Northwest in Richland -- including Seattle City Light, Tacoma Power and Snohomish County PUD -- have paid almost $300 million into that fund in the past 28 years.

READ MORE

 

New federal grant bolsters UNLV research on nuclear waste storage
Conor Shine, Las Vegas Sun
May 31, 2012

 

Deep in the heart of the UNLV campus, down windowless hallways and in laboratories teeming with beakers, centrifuges and Geiger counters, the element technetium has become an object of intense fascination for researchers.

 

The element, number 43 on the periodic table, is one of the largest forms of radioactive waste generated by nuclear reactors. Its isotopes have wide-ranging applications that are just beginning to be discovered, most notably in the field of nuclear medicine, but for a team of UNLV researchers toiling in the long shadow of Yucca Mountain, perhaps the most important question is how to store technetium safely.

 

To further that goal, two UNLV research teams recently received a $1.6 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to fund three more years of research into new storage methods that will neutralize the radioactive element and make it safe for long-term storage.

 

 

House members slam Obama on closing Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site
Pete Kasperowicz, The Hill
May 31, 2012

 

Republicans and Democrats in the House slammed the Obama administration's plan to close the nuclear waste disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, as both praised a bill that would keep that site open, and indicated they would try to add more money to keep the site active.

 

Members were debating the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act late Thursday. The bill, H.R. 5325, includes $25 million for Yucca Mountain, which Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) said would keep the site useable in the future.

 

"Research and development activities to support Yucca are permitted," he said. "This will ensure that we keep Congress in the driver's seat for nuclear waste policy."

 

House Appropriations Committee ranking member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) added that he supports that language, and would try to add more money to send a signal that Congress opposes efforts to close the site.

 

 

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors By 2022 -- But No Market For Them
Jeff McMahon, Forbes
May 23, 2012

 

The Department of Energy will spend $452 million--with a match from industry--over the next five years to guide two small modular reactor designs through the nuclear regulatory process by 2022. But cheap natural gas could freeze even small nuclear plants out of the energy market well beyond that date.

 

DOE accepted bids through Monday for companies to participate in the Small Modular Reactor program. A number of reactor manufacturers submitted bids, including NuScale Power and a collaboration that includes Westinghouse and General Dynamic.

 

"This would allow SMR technology to overcome the hurdle of NRC certification - the 'gold standard' of the international nuclear industry, and would help in the proper development of the NRC's regulatory framework to deal with SMRs," according to Paul Genoa, Senior Director of Policy Development at the Nuclear Energy Institute.