US Congress Advances Funding for Interim Storage

摘要

Six months into its two-year life, the 116th US Congress is moving new nuclear waste legislation forward with a greater sense of urgency than in prior sessions. Besides reintroducing bills that were wiped off the slate when the new session began Jan. 3, a formidable group of California House Democrats is asking fellow colleagues to vote in favor of a bill prioritizing removal of spent fuel from shuttered plant sites like San Onofre and for money to develop centralized interim storage (CIS). A vote is slated next week on an energy and water appropriations bill containing the requested $25 million for CIS in fiscal year 2020, which starts in October. Yet if the bill stands as is during the floor vote next week, and passes, it still faces an uphill battle in the Republicancontrolled Senate because it lacks funding for the moribund Yucca Mountain project in Nevada. A motion to include Yucca funding in the measure was narrowly defeated - 27-25 - before the Energy and Water Development Committee approved the bill last month. The closeness of that vote demonstrates that even in the House, which last year voted 240-72 in favor of a bill to push forward with Yucca, support for the project is still there, even among Democrats. “We were pleased to see four of our Democratic colleagues support the amendment,” read a minority statement on the bill. “We had hoped for broader support since just last year 240 Members of the House, including 16 Members currently serving on the other side of the aisle on this Committee, voted to approve H.R. 3053 to jumpstart the Yucca Mountain project.”