Barton Plans to Write Nuclear Waste Bill

A House committee chairman plans to begin writing a nuclear waste bill this fall that would remove barriers holding up Yucca Mountain, according to state officials and industry lobbyists.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, intends to revive legislation that would grant the Department of Energy greater access to construction funds for the nuclear waste repository, according to lobbyists who met with him recently.

Barton, the influential chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told reporters this week he is weighing other initiatives to expedite the stalled program and make changes in the nation's nuclear waste policy.

He has said he would turn to nuclear waste after Congress completes action on a major energy policy bill, most likely later this year.

Proposals being studied by Barton reportedly include resolving a court ruling on Yucca Mountain radiation safety standards by requiring them to remain at the current 10,000-year level.

Committee spokesman Larry Neal said Wednesday that "Barton's plan is to provide full funding for Yucca Mountain. Others may have other ideas, and they may be glorious things and worth considering, but the chairman has not drafted a bill to implement them."

Charles Pray, a Maine nuclear safety official, and David Wright, a state utility regulator from South Carolina, said Barton told them in a June 29 meeting that he planned for his committee to begin forming a repository accounting bill this fall, and continuing into next year.

Pray and Wright are co-chairmen of the Yucca Mountain Task Force, a pro-repository coalition. In an interview on June 30, the task force leaders said Barton did not mention other nuclear waste initiatives that might be included in such a bill.

House lawmakers have worked over the past half dozen years to reclassify Yucca Mountain budget accounts to grant the Energy Department easier access to $750 million that nuclear utilities pay each year into a nuclear waste fund.

Department officials have cited underfunding by Congress as one reason for delays in the repository which was supposed to open in 1998. DOE more recently has abandoned a proposed 2010 opening, and experts say it could be 2015 or later before Yucca Mountain might begin accepting nuclear waste.

Although the House has been supportive of Yucca legislation, efforts have stalled in the Senate where Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a repository opponent, has put up roadblocks.

"My reaction is to not be too excited about whatever is brewing in the House, because the challenge for those who seek such solutions is getting anything supported through the Senate," said Brian O'Connell, nuclear waste project director for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.