President Donald Trump unveiled Thursday a budget proposal for
fiscal 2018 Thursday that would provide the US Department of Energy
$120 million for the management of utility spent nuclear fuel,
including restarting DOE's licensing activities associated with the
high-level nuclear waste repository proposed for Yucca Mountain,
Nevada.
The suggested allocation is included in a 62-page "America First"
budget blueprint the White House Office of Management of Budget
released that calls for a 5.6% reduction in DOE spending in fiscal
2018, which starts October 1. Under the proposal, which outlines
budget proposals for major federal agencies, DOE would receive $28
billion.
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A more detailed spending proposal, complete with budget
justification documentation, is expected to be issued in May.
OMB said the $120 million proposed allocation would be used to
restart DOE licensing activities for a Yucca Mountain repository and
to "initiate a robust interim storage program."
"These investments would accelerate progress on fulfilling the
federal government's obligations to address nuclear waste, enhance
national security and reduce further taxpayer burden," the OMB
document said.
If licensed and built, a repository at Yucca Mountain, roughly 100
miles from the center of Las Vegas, would be used to dispose of
70,000 mt heavy metal of utility spent fuel now stored at power
reactor sites across the US.
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DOE dismantled the Yucca Mountain project in 2010, two years after
it submitted a repository license application to the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, saying the state of Nevada's unyielding
opposition to the proposed disposal facility made the site
unworkable. NRC suspended its review of the application in 2011, but
resumed that work under a federal court order with limited carryover
funds in 2013, which have since been spent.
The OMB document did not contain any information on the fiscal 2018
budget proposal for NRC.
Lake Barrett, a former head of DOE's civilian nuclear waste program
and currently the head of L. Barrett Consulting, said in an email
Thursday that the $120 million budget request would be sufficient to
restart DOE's licensing activity. "With careful focused management,
these additional funds will go a long way toward addressing the
Yucca issues in a satisfactory way," he said.
A second nuclear industry official, who asked not to be identified
because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said in an email
that the request would enable DOE to "assemble staff, re-establish
the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management program, prepare
for licensing defense; and to plan and budget for future years to
conclude licensing and begin construction."
Nevada's opposition to the proposed disposal facility, meanwhile,
has not waned since the retirement of Harry Reid from the US Senate
in January, according to Nevada officials. Reid, a Nevada Democrat
and former Senate majority and minority leader, was a leading
opponent of the project.
After the project was dismantled in 2010, the state continued to
prepare to fight the project in an NRC licensing proceeding.
--Elaine Hiruo,
elaine.hiruo@spglobal.com
--Edited by Valarie Jackson,
valarie.jackson@spglobal.com
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