The chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
said completing the licensing process for
Yucca Mountain would cost an additional $330 million.
All four commissioners appeared before the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water
Development. Chairman Stephen Burns said completing the
used fuel repository construction licensing process would
require the additional funds from Congress in the NRC’s
budget. The commission proposed a $1.03 billion budget for
fiscal year 2016, which is 1.7 percent higher than was
approved for fiscal 2015. NRC did not request any funds from
Congress to continue its review of the Yucca Mountain
license.
Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking
Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) both said during the
hearing that they intend to pursue passage of the Nuclear
Waste Administration Act, which would allow for the
establishment of consolidated storage facilities such as the
one proposed by Waste Control Specialists in Texas.
Alexander said the cumulative burden of regulations is not
because lawmakers have “evil intent,” but that they pile up
over time, creating a resource issue for the industry. NRC
Commissioner Kristine Svinicki said a recent NRC pilot study
found that the cost-benefit analyses regulators use to
justify imposition of new regulations have, in some cases,
been as much as ten times lower than the eventual true cost.
If the true cost had been recognized, Svinicki said
commissioners would have rethought the efficacy of the rule.
Alexander recently spoke up for U.S. nuclear power, saying
the subcommittee would hold a series of year-long hearings
to look into the future of nuclear power in the U.S.
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