Washington (Platts)--6Jun2007

House appropriators approved $494.5 million for DOE's nuclear waste
program in fiscal 2008, matching the department's full request. 
     Representative Peter Visclosky of Indiana, who chairs the House Energy
and Water Appropriations subcommittee, said June 6 at a markup of the energy
and water spending bill that there was concern that DOE remain "on track" to
submit a license application for the planned Yucca Mountain, Nevada repository
in June 2008. 
     However, the House Appropriations Committee made deep cuts to DOE's
funding request for its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership initiative. The
committee would give GNEP $120 million, much less than the $405 million DOE is
seeking. The committee also directed DOE to make the Next Generation Nuclear
Plant a higher priority than GNEP. The NGNP, aimed at demonstrating
high-temperature gas-cooled technology, is slated to be built at the Idaho
National Laboratory.