Resolution Looks for Explanation for Project to Close Yucca Mountain
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Category: Government CommitteesType: News
Source: U.S. House Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
Party: Republican
Date: Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
Washington, D.C. - The Administration should provide Congress with more details on why it is abandoning a $10-billion taxpayer investment in the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, said Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., ranking Republican on the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, who introduced a resolution of inquiry yesterday (H.Res.1466) requesting records from the White House and the D.O.E. (DOE).
"Over the last 30 years, taxpayers have invested in excess of $10 billion to prepare Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste disposal," Sensenbrenner said. "There is no evidence that Yucca Mountain is unsafe, and the Administration has not provided any scientific or economic justification for abandoning the site. Yet the Administration is trying to close the facility before it is opened. The American people deserve a good explanation and they haven't gotten one yet."
In 2008, D.O.E. submitted the license application for Yucca Mountain to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for review. This year, D.O.E. moved to withdraw that application "with prejudice," a legal distinction which would forever prevent D.O.E. from resubmitting the application. The resolution looks for documents on DOE's decision to attempt to withdraw the pending license application with NRC for the Yucca Mountain facility. The resolution also looks for details on why D.O.E. filed its motion to withdraw "with prejudice."
Additionally, the resolution looks for information and documents on why D.O.E. discontinued standard monitoring and data collection of the location and on efforts to preserve documents supporting the Yucca Mountain license application. Sensenbrenner said he worried that halting data collection may eventually render the location unusable, regardless of NRC's decision to grant the withdrawal of the license application.
"By unilaterally abandoning the Yucca Mountain repository, the Administration is ignoring both the will of Congress and the investment taxpayers have already made into the facility," Sensenbrenner said. "What's worse is that this decision appears to be little in excess of a political favor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Nuclear power is the most reliable carbon-free energy technology accessible to us, but this industry can't develop until waste disposal issues are resolved. By electing to prematurely shutter Yucca Mountain, President Obama is putting politics ahead of America's energy security."
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