Science Committee Adopts Sensenbrenner Nuclear Waste Amendment
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Category: Government CommitteesType: News
Source: U.S. House Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
Party: Republican
Date: Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
Washington, D.C.- The House Science Committee today approved an amendment from Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., that will reinforce the Obama Administration's responsibility to store spent nuclear waste at the suggested Yucca Mountain, Nev. nuclear waste repository. The Nuclear Energy Research and Development Act of 2010 (H.R. 5866) will update D.O.E. nuclear energy research programs in order to develop new nuclear energy technology.
Representative Sensenbrenner, ranking Republican on the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said his amendment was necessary to ensure that the federal government retains its responsibility for storing nuclear waste and added that Congress has directed the D.O.E. to develop the Yucca Mountain location for spent nuclear fuel.
"It is irresponsible for President Obama to walk away from Yucca Mountain when our country badly needs new sources of energy," Sensenbrenner said. "Congress has devoted in excess of $10 billion in taxpayer money and 30 years of research in the Yucca Mountain project. It has been found to be safe. Congress wants it developed. There is no reason for the Administration to shutter this plan other than politics. America's energy security shouldn't be diminished in order to grant a political favor to the Senate Majority Leader."
The amendment to H.R. 5866 would clarify that the federal government will maintain responsibility for any high-level radioactive waste produced by new reactors that result from the D.O.E. research authorized in the bill. Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the federal government already bears responsibility for this waste. Congress specifically mandates Yucca Mountain as a disposal facility for this waste. Sensenbrenner said his amendment makes no changes to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and only reiterates the federal government's responsibility to store any waste created through new D.O.E. research.
An administrative board of judges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in June that the D.O.E. case for closing Yucca Mountain was "illogical," "inconsistent," and "contrary and not persuasive."
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