NEA Report: Stakeholder Confidence in Radioactive Waste Management
Nuclear Energy Agency
March 1, 2013

 

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) Annotated Glossary is a review of concepts central to societal decision making about radioactive waste management. It records the evolution in understanding that has taken place in the group as the FSC has worked with these concepts over time. This should be a useful resource not only for new FSC participants but also for others: this annotated glossary forms a good reference handbook for future texts regarding societal aspects of radioactive waste management and its governance.

 

Five Easy Pieces of Energy Legislation
National Journal says nuclear waste storage is "gaining traction thanks to the push of local politics"
Coral Davenport, National Journal
March 25, 2013

 

After half a decade in which the energy debate in Washington has been dominated by political posturing and produced almost no legislative action, both Democrats and Republicans who work on energy policy say they're optimistic about prospects for a number of single-issue energy bills in this Congress.

 

The hope, they say, is that progress on some smaller-scale bills could restore the trust and relationships needed to build momentum for action on bigger bills.

 

Signs that something may be breaking loose in the energy deadlock come as members of Congress surprised even themselves last week by reaching bipartisan agreement on a stopgap budget bill absent the dramatic brinksmanship that has, until recently, dominated fiscal debate.

 

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the new Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman, told National Journal Daily he's optimistic that, with the bitter politics of the presidential election behind them, lawmakers are now interested in actually passing legislation.

 

"What's different now--beyond the fact that elections are a renewal--is that a very significant group of senators are coming up and saying, 'We've just got to find a way to move ahead on energy,' " Wyden said. "Energy can't just be an ongoing polarized bickerfest where everyone sits around and throws rotten fruit at each other."

 

There's a growing urgency among lawmakers to take on energy policy, in particular, since energy--where it comes from, how much it costs, how many jobs it generates--is central to the health of the economy. Also growing is the desire to address the fossil-fuel pollution that contributes to global warming.

 

Congress last passed a major energy law in 2007, but the provisions of that law don't do much to address today's most pressing issues, including high oil prices, greenhouse-gas emissions, and surging energy demand in countries such as China and India.

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he'd like to prioritize movement of energy bills in his chamber. And the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has become a surprising oasis of bipartisan cooperation. Wyden and the panel's top Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have developed what both senators call a warm, productive friendship, and the two are focused on forging bills that could gain enough support to pass the Senate with a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority.

 

Wyden and Murkowski have also met in recent weeks with their House counterparts: House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.; his top lieutenant on energy issues, Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky.; and staff from the office of House Energy and Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif. Such a meeting may sound like it should be commonplace on Capitol Hill, but participants said they couldn't recall the last time they'd been in a serious policy meeting with members of both parties and both chambers.

 

For the past two years, House Republicans have focused on energy chiefly as a political-messaging issue. Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has spearheaded those efforts. Before the election, that meant moving a nonstop parade of bills focused on aggressively expanding oil drilling while handcuffing the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency. The point, at the time, wasn't to actually pass legislation (none of the bills had any chance of success in the Senate). It was to create talking points aimed at attacking Democrats running for office--particularly President Obama.

 

But now that the election is over, McCarthy is taking a different tack. His office has taken pains to point out that the first two energy bills that Republicans brought to the floor this year were not typical GOP "drill, baby, drill" measures; they were renewable energy bills. The intention, McCarthy said, was to send a message that, on this issue, Republicans are prepared to work with Democrats.

 

"If we lead with something else, like drilling, and were criticized, they wouldn't listen to the rest of our energy policy," McCarthy said. "Let's first enter the places that we're more united on. You crawl before you walk and you walk before your run. If you start out and build coalitions and build trust on both sides, we can keep doing the harder bills as we grow."

 

Leaders in both parties and both chambers are quick to clarify that they don't expect to see a major energy bill anytime soon--and that even single-issue energy proposals will meet plenty of obstacles. But they pointed to these five proposals as ideas that have legs.

 

 

The House has started a bipartisan caucus aimed at passing energy efficiency legislation--bills that would require buildings that provide the same amount of light and heat with less fuel, for example. The leaders of the caucus have serious political chops: Republican Cory Gardner of Colorado has been designated by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to serve as a point man for the GOP on energy issues. Democrat Peter Welch of Vermont is a staunch liberal with close ties to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. And in the Senate, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio is gaining traction. "People are tired of gridlock," Gardner told NJ Daily. "You're starting to see that frustration that members don't have something to go home and show people. These energy bills are opportunities to show our constituents that we not only talk about it, we bring something home to show for it."

 

 

This issue is gaining traction thanks in part to the retirement of Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., former chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Bingaman did not oppose offshore drilling, but he did oppose the idea that coastal states should share a portion of the revenue generated by drilling in federal waters. The new Energy chairman, Wyden of Oregon, isn't a big fan of offshore drilling, but he doesn't object to proposals that send more money to coastal states. Murkowski, the panel's ranking Republican, has introduced a bill with Democrat Mary Landrieu of Louisiana that would expand offshore drilling, give coastal states a taste of the profit, and require some of the money to go toward development of renewable energy. The multi-pronged bill is drawing a mix of supporters--and is being taken seriously by leadership on both sides of the aisle.

 

 

This is another issue that's gaining traction thanks to the push of local politics. The nation still has no solution for nuclear waste, which today is kept in temporary storage facilities at nuclear power plants across the country--a situation that's viewed as dangerous and also expensive. The federal government, by law, was to have taken title to the waste in 1998, and every year that it doesn't, it pays millions of dollars to nuclear power companies. An old proposal to build a federally run nuclear-waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, was killed by Obama and will likely remain on ice as long as Nevadan Harry Reid retains seniority in the Senate. Proposals to build an interim "medium-term" nuclear-waste dump were also stalled until this year, as the most likely site for such a facility is New Mexico. But Bingaman, the New Mexican who chaired Senate Energy and Natural Resources, was not a fan. Now that he's retired and been replaced by Wyden--whose state has a closed nuclear-power plant that still stores radioactive waste--plans for a "medium-term" nuclear-waste storage dump are suddenly on the move.

 

 

For the first time since Obama won the White House in 2008, the top Republican and top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are working collaboratively on a controversial piece of energy policy: the renewable-fuels standard. There's growing opposition to the provisions of a 2005 law mandating that oil refiners blend an increasing share of plant-based ethanol into the nation's gasoline mix. Oil companies complain it raises their costs, and the use of corn to produce ethanol has also contributed to rising food prices in the wake of last year's drought. Meanwhile, the technology to produce ethanol affordably from nonfood crops still isn't commercialized. Given those pressures, there's a growing coalition of strange bedfellows--the oil industry, environmentalists, food manufacturers, and antipoverty groups--pushing for the law to be reformed. To that end, Upton and Waxman are working on a series of white papers aimed at opening up the issue for debate and, they hope, legislative action.

 

 

In January, House Republicans brought to the floor a bill to speed construction of small hydropower plants in the Pacific Northwest. The bill, sponsored by Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, was meant as a signal that the GOP was ready to work with Democrats on at least some form of renewable-energy legislation. It worked. Wyden has introduced a companion measure in the Senate. Members of both parties in both chambers are optimistic about its prospects.

 

Obama taps nuke safety chief Macfarlane for new term
Ben Geman, The Hill
March 22, 2013

 

President Obama has nominated Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane to a five-year term at the agency that oversees the nation's nuclear power plants.

 

Macfarlane took the NRC's helm last summer, replacing Chairman Gregory Jaczko, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) who resigned after several rocky years.

 

Macfarlane, whose current term expires June 30, is a geologist and former professor of environmental science and policy at George Mason University.

She already sailed through the Senate last year after Obama tapped her to replace Jaczko, who had clashed with his fellow commissioners but won praise from supporters who say he stood up to the nuclear industry.

 

Reid said he looked forward to "swift confirmation" of Macfarlane to a new term.

 

"Allison Macfarlane has served in her post at the NRC with distinction and I am pleased she has been re-nominated to continue her leadership role. Chairman Macfarlane is deeply committed to keeping Americans safe and secure from harmful radioactive material and waste," he said in a statement Thursday.

 

Macfarlane is heading the NRC as the agency is crafting new safety rules in the wake of Japan's 2011 nuclear disaster.

 

The NRC is also weighing a series of industry applications to build new nuclear reactors, but low natural gas prices and expanding gas production are fueling uncertainty about the prospects for a major build-out.

 

Senate passes budget -- first in 4 years
Ginger Gibson, Politico
March 23, 2013
LINK

 

In the early morning hours Saturday after almost 13 continuous hours of voting, the Senate passed a budget resolution for the first time in nearly four years.

 

The proposal, which Democratic drafters say will reduce the deficit by $1.85 trillion between spending cuts and tax increases, passed narrowly 50-49 on a largely partisan vote at 4:56 a.m.

 

A handful of Democrats, all up for reelection next year and representing conservative states, voted against the measure: Sens. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska). Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) was absent.

 

Nerves started to fray about 2 a.m., with Democrats pushing to end the voting and Republicans trying to continue to consider amendments. In total, they considered 101 amendments.

 

The standoff brought leadership from both parties to hushed huddles on the floor as tired senators tried to intercede and speed the process.

 

More than an hour of negotiations ensued until a deal was struck, more than 30 amendments would be passed without a vote as a package. Another 14 amendments would be voted on beginning just after 3 a.m. to allow them to finally be able to vote on the budget.

 

It was then that conservatives in the Senate were finally able to move on some of their more controversial amendments. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) offered amendments dealing with foreign relations in the Middle East and U.N. funding related to the legality of abortion, all of which were defeated. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) offered an amendment reiterating the rights in the 2nd Amendment, which was shot down after being ruled unrelated to the budget.

As part of a deal to move forward, the members agreed to remain seated and vote out loud as their names were called, an unusual event on the Senate floor.

 

The 12-hour series of votes -- more than 100 amendments were considered, breaking a previous "vote-a-rama" record -- is mostly political theater and gives both sides the opportunity to force votes on pet issues. The budget is non-binding, therefore none of the passed amendments will likely carry the weight of law.

 

But the votes are symbolic victories, demonstrating the ability of one side to rally enough senators to support a measure in hopes of using those votes for future bills. It also gives both sides a litany of roll calls to try to clobber their opponents during the next election.

 

Republicans claimed victory on some key amendments, including passage of one to repeal the medical device tax included in Obamacare and one calling for the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

 

GOP senators also used the debate to hammer the fact that Sen. Patty Murray's (D-Wash.) budget never comes into balance during the 10-year plan. Instead, they argued that it only raised spending and didn't cut the deficit.

 

"Although Senate Democrats finally generated a budget after four years, the plan they produced raises taxes, increases spending and debt and never, ever balances," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said after passage. "The only good news is that the fiscal path the Democrats laid out in their Budget Resolution won't become law."

 

Democrats contrasted their budget with the House-passed version authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), arguing that theirs took a better tact of reducing the deficit without cutting Medicare.

 

The late-night voting ritual might have resulted in a budget finally getting passed, but it also lead to sleepy senators in the early morning hours.

 

Most moved in and out of the cloakroom, watching NCAA games on the television or sitting in chairs that are more comfortable than the ones on the floor. Others sat perched for long stretches at their desks, going over papers and fiddling with their phones while they waited.

 

Small groups gathered on the floor, joking and laughing occasionally.

 

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) appeared to have decided to go a little causal for the occasion, going sockless for most of the day and into the night.

 

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) moved up into the spectators gallery, chatting with a group while he watched the proceedings. The pile of papers on Sen. Barbara Boxer's desk grew through the night, making hers the most cluttered at the end.

 

House and Senate agree to two-week adjournment resolution
Ramsey Cox, The Hill
March 25, 2013

 

The House and Senate agreed on an adjournment resolution on Monday.

 

The Senate passed S. Con. Res. 11 early Saturday morning, after finishing work on the budget. The House adopted the same concurrent resolution Monday, meaning there will be no pro forma sessions until lawmakers return next month.

 

Because of the Passover and Easter holidays, lawmakers are taking two weeks off to be back in their states and districts. 

 

The Senate will return to work on Monday, April 8, and will vote on a judicial nomination that evening.

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry (R-Nev.) has said the Senate might take up gun control legislation when it returns.

 

The House comes back to work on Tuesday, April 9 at 2 p.m.

 

Hastings urges DOE not to shift Hanford money away from Hanford
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
March 25, 2013

 

Don't shift money from Hanford to other Department of Energy environmental cleanup sites, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., has warned DOE.

 

That would be "met with my strongest opposition," he said in a letter sent Monday to Dave Huizenga, DOE senior adviser for environmental management.

 

DOE is expected to submit a reprogramming package for environmental cleanup programs to Congress, proposing switching money among specific programs or sites for the remaining months of fiscal 2013. The year ends Sept. 30.

 

The change in how money previously appropriated by Congress is spent does not require a congressional vote.

 

Hanford will lose 235 workers to layoffs this month and about 2,500 workers will be forced to take weeks of leave by October because of automatic federal budget cuts, called sequestration. But planning for sequestration did not take into account the reprograming package that has yet to be released.

Depending on the reprogramming request details, some workers across the DOE complex could regain recently lost jobs and other workers could lose jobs.

 

"The sooner the department makes its reprogramming package available, the sooner workers will have some degree of certainty with regard to their employment status and work scope can be planned," Hastings said in the letter.

 

Impacts of sequestration will be further exacerbated by delaying a complete and transparent reprogramming proposal from DOE, he said.

 

He does not anticipate an overall reduction in the budgets for work under either DOE Hanford office, the Richland Operations Office or the Office of River Protection, given DOE's legal obligations to the state of Washington, he said.

 

A court-enforced consent decree and the legally binding Tri-Party Agreement each set deadlines for cleanup at Hanford.

 

Some reprogramming has been likely, given the stop of construction at the Pretreatment Facility at Hanford's vitrification plant until technical issues are resolved and given concerns about radioactive waste that may be leaking from Hanford's underground tanks, he said.

 

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee was told earlier this month that sequestration would mean cutting $171 million from Hanford spending. DOE contractors Mission Support Alliance, CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., Washington River Protection Solutions and Washington Closure Hanford are either laying off workers, requiring furloughs or both.

 

However, federal employees working directly for DOE at Hanford are not being furloughed or laid off.

DOE is cutting its budget because of sequestration by not filling positions, by continuing to leave open positions that already have gone unfilled for a year or more and by reducing bonuses or awards, training and travel, said DOE spokesman Geoff Tyree.

 

The DOE Richland Operations will cut back some of the hours for its general support contractors, who typically are given contracts for a certain number of hours each year, he said.

 

Tyree also pointed out that federal employees have not been given cost-of-living increases for three years, although some have been eligible for raises.

 

Guest column: Questions remain on Oak Ridge cleanup funding
David Martin, Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board
March 22, 2013

 

There is great uncertainty on what the looming federal budget cuts will be and what effect they will have on funding for the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Management, or EM, program at the Oak Ridge Reservation. We can be confident that budget cuts are coming. It is going to take a coordinated effort on the part of the DOE-Oak Ridge EM, regulators, and stakeholders to minimize the impact on current and future remediation projects, and on the men and women who carry out this work.

 

Right now DOE-EM is operating on a temporary six-month budget. This budget covers just the first half of Fiscal Year 2013 and is based on half of the FY 2012 budget. We should know soon how changes in the federal budget affect Oak Ridge EM for the second half of 2013. This still leaves the 2014 budget in question.

At this point it is pure speculation as to what the DOE-EM budget will be for 2014. Probably when it is set, it will be near the FY 2012 level. For years, the Oak Ridge EM, local governments, and citizen's groups have fought for funding adequate to eliminate health and environmental threats in and around Oak Ridge and to ensure that the missions of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex are not impeded. Recently, the ORSSAB issued several recommendations related to the EM budget.

 

When further budget cuts come, missed milestones can have grave consequences. As long as contaminated areas of the ORR are susceptible to accidental releases, the program's credibility with the community and regulators is at risk. Putting off demolishing contaminated facilities means EM monies that could be used for cleanup must instead be spent on surveillance and maintenance. Over time, these expenses, along with inflation, can substantially increase total cleanup costs.

 

To lessen the detrimental effects from possible budget cuts, DOE-Oak Ridge EM has been working with DOE Headquarters, the state, and the Environmental Protection Agency to make sure what money is available will be used to best take care of EM's immediate needs. Looking to technology for help, the DOE is using a sophisticated computer program to assist with planning. The dynamic planning model uses a comprehensive database of project work schedules and cost estimates to predict total cost schedules for alternate sequencing and funding scenarios.

 

As the DOE looks at its options to respond to budget constraints, it will be asking for input from the community. One way you can help is to join with ORSSAB as we move forward. As DOE-EM's main conduit for public outreach, ORSSAB is given updates and detailed reports at our monthly meetings. You can apply for appointment to the board, but you do not have to be a member to have your views heard. All meetings are open to the public.

 

Our meetings are also delayed broadcast on YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/ORSSAB) and on area cable access channels. You can also become a member of one of the ORSSAB standing committees: Environmental Management, Public Outreach, and Stewardship. For more information, contact us at (865) 241-4583 or 241-4584, or see our website at www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab.