Industry Urges Congress to Scrutinize NRC Operations in
FY2016 Budget Request
Feb 04 - GlobeNewswire
The nuclear energy industry is calling on federal
appropriators to demand additional efficiencies at the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to reject the Obama
administration's latest attempt to impose a multibillion-dollar
tax on the industry for a federal facilities cleanup program
that electric utilities already have funded.
Reacting to the administration's budget request for fiscal 2016,
the industry also is urging Congress to ensure sufficient
funding for nuclear waste management program activities,
including money to advance the U.S. Department of Energy's
license application for the proposed repository for used nuclear
fuel at Yucca Mountain , Nev.
DOE's budget request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 is
$29.9 billion , a 9.5 percent increase from the current budget;
however, funding for nuclear energy programs would be cut to
$907.5 million . The NRC budget proposal of $1.03 billion is 1.7
percent higher than the current budget.
"Given nuclear energy facilities' strong safety performance and
the fact that several utilities' plans to add new nuclear
generating capacity still are being shaped by the recession's
lingering impact on electricity demand, the NRC's oversight
priorities merit close scrutiny," said Alex Flint , the Nuclear
Energy Institute's senior vice president for governmental
affairs. "Reducing the cumulative impact of regulatory
requirements—which includes some 60 rulemakings—remains a
priority for NEI.
"The industry's primary goal is to ensure that our resources and
regulatory resources are focused on those activities most
significant to safety. That priority is being challenged by the
workload that the NRC has imposed over the past decade. We urge
Congress to insist upon NRC adherence to its principles of good
regulation and so that nuclear energy facilities can most safely
and effectively meet their customers' need for reliable, clean
air electricity supplies."
The industry strongly opposes the latest attempt by the
administration to tax consumers of electricity in more than 30
states for the cleanup of DOE uranium enrichment facilities. The
government's Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and
Decommissioning Fund has a balance of nearly $5 billion . The
administration's attempt to impose a new tax of more than $200
million annually for 10 years comes despite the fact that the
industry first paid for the expense when it purchased the fuel
enriched at the facilities and then met an additional $2.6
billion cleanup obligation established under a 1992 law.
"We recognize that the federal government has significant budget
pressures, but reinstating unjustified taxes on parties that
have met their funding obligation while the government has
failed to meet its funding obligation is outrageously unfair.
The Uranium Enrichment D &D tax proposal should be dead on
arrival in Congress ," Flint said.
The importance of nuclear energy to the nation's economic and
environmental well-being isn't reflected in the funding decrease
for DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy , Flint said.
"Nuclear energy is uniquely capable of meeting our nation's need
for 24/7 electricity generation from low-carbon sources. Surely
there's room within a 10 percent budget increase for the
Department of Energy to better support a technology that matters
as much as to our nation's energy diversity and energy security
as nuclear energy does. It makes absolutely no sense, for
example, to zero out university nuclear energy programs as this
budget request would do."
The fiscal 2016 budget proposal also includes $62.5 million to
continue a public-private cost-sharing program to develop small
reactor technology. NEI welcomes the administration's
endorsement of this innovative program, Flint said.
The budget seeks $108 million for development of one or more
facilities for used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive
waste management using "consent-based siting" and preparations
for transport of used nuclear fuel. However, it does not propose
funding to advance the proposed Yucca Mountain repository
program, even though DOE's license application for the facility
is pending before the NRC. The request includes $345 million for
the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina .
Nuclear energy facilities operating in 30 states provide
electricity to one of every five U.S. homes and businesses.
###
The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industry's
policy organization. This news release and additional
information about nuclear energy are available at www.nei.org .
CONTACT:Contact NEI's media relations staff at
media@nei.org , 202.739.8000 during business hours or
703.644.8805 after hours and weekends.
Source: Nuclear Energy
Institute
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