Perry defends budget, including Yucca
House, Senate opposed on nuclear waste storage
WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Rick Perry appeared before a skeptical Senate panel Wednesday to defend his $30 billion budget proposal, which includes money for licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
Senators dismissed a similar request last year and urged the Trump administration to move more aggressively to fund interim storage facilities for growing stockpiles of nuclear waste.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-tenn., chairman of the appropriations subcommittee for energy and water development, repeated that request Wednesday and cited the need to find other long-term solutions.
“We have more than enough used fuel to fill Yucca Mountain to its legal capacity,” Alexander said.
The Department of Energy’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2019, which starts Oct. 1, calls for spending $110 million to restart the licensing application process for Yucca Mountain and $10 million to study temporary storage sites for nuclear waste.
A license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is needed to start construction at Yucca Mountain, but the licensing was halted in 2011 under the Obama administration.
The House and Senate are at loggerheads over how to address nuclear waste generated by utility plants in 33 states and whether to press ahead with opening Yucca Mountain, which was designated by Congress in 1987 as the site for permanent storage.
The House passed legislation last year to streamline the licensing process and expand Yucca Mountain storage.
But senators have cited the public opposition in Nevada over the nuclear waste site, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a reason to explore other storage sites.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @ garymartindc on Twitter.