Sen. Bingaman Introduces Nuclear Waste Management Bill
Published: Fri, 08/03/12
Coming To Grips With Nuclear Waste
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Press Release August 1, 2012 The commission made eight clear, concise proposals. Most notably, it recommended that the U.S. adopt a new, consent-based approach to siting nuclear waste management facilities, and that the country establish a new organization to manage its nuclear waste management program.
In addition, the commission affirmed the need to build one or more geologic repositories in which nuclear waste can be permanently buried; it endorsed the need to build one or more temporary storage facilities in which nuclear waste can be stored until a permanent repository is built; it emphasized the importance of giving the new organization access to the funds needed to implement the program; and it made useful recommendations on transportation, and on the importance of continued support for nuclear research and development and international nuclear non-proliferation programs.
Bingaman had been working with Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) to try to put the Commission's recommendations into legislative language. They were unable to agree on how to do that.
"Nonetheless, we agreed that I should introduce legislation and that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources should hold a hearing on it in September," Bingaman said. "I recognize, of course, that the bill will not become law this year. But my hope is to obtain testimony on it and to build a legislative record that might serve as the foundation for further consideration and ultimate enactment in the next Congress."
Yucca Mountain Waste Site Ruling Put Off by Appeals CourtA decision on whether to compel the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to rule on plans for storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain was put off by an appeals court after the agency said it lacked funds to complete the process. In a 2-1 decision today, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington gave the NRC until Dec. 14 to report back on whether Congress provided the funding it says it needs to act on the Energy Department's application for approval of the Nye County, Nevada, disposal site. The judges said if Congress doesn't come up with the money, they will probably order the commission to move ahead with the licensing process, unless lawmakers formally scuttle the project altogether. "Here, the law mandates that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission act on the license application, and the agency still has a significant amount of appropriated money available to at least begin that task," U.S. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh said in a statement joining the ruling. "In those circumstances, an agency appears to have no legal authority to defy the law in the manner suggested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in this case." The federal government already has spent about $15 billion, including $9.5 billion collected from industry, on the Yucca facility, located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas.
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