Wright: Reforming the Nuclear Waste Fund is Essential to New Policies

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Download For Immediate Release: February 1, 2012 Contact: Rob Thormeyer, 202-898-9382, rthormeyer@naruc.org Wright: Reforming the Nuclear Waste Fund is Essential to New Policies WASHINGTON—Reforming how consumers pay for the eventual storage of commercial nuclear waste must be the top priority as the federal government considers a new nuclear-waste policy. So said National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners President David Wright of South Carolina in testimony today before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. President Wright expressed frustration with the government’s ongoing inability to resolve the nuclear waste problem, despite the promising recommendations from a blue-ribbon panel. “So, yet another study calls for prompt action, yet despite … a financing plan, implementation relies on leadership from the Administration and Congress,” he said. “NARUC stands ready to assist on behalf of the ratepayers who may not realize that they are paying for safe waste disposition.” At issue is the long-running saga over the nation’s policy regarding the storage of spent nuclear fuel. Congress in 1982 passed legislation calling for nuclear waste from defense and commercial reactors to be stored in a geologic repository. Eventually Congress designated Yucca Mountain, Nev., as the location of the first storage facility, pending approvals and authorizations from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Congress required the U.S. Department of Energy and nuclear utilities to enter into contracts for the transportation and eventual storage of the nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. The costs of the program were passed through to nuclear-power consumers through the Nuclear Waste Fund. To date, consumers have paid more than $30 billion into the fund. After serial delays, the White House in 2009 determined that Yucca Mountain was no longer “a workable option” and announced its intention to terminate the program. In March 2010, the Department of Energy asked that its license application for Yucca Mountain, still pending before the NRC, be withdrawn. The agency also established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to recommend a new strategy, one without Yucca Mountain. Meanwhile, nuclear-power consumers continue paying into the fund, even though the nation’s nuclear-waste policy remains at a standstill. In his testimony, President Wright said NARUC is involved in litigation that will hopefully force the NRC to resume its review of the Yucca application and suspend the fees associated with Nuclear Waste Fund until a new waste program is implemented. He also applauded the recent report from the Blue Ribbon Commission and said reforming the nuclear-waste fund essential to moving forward. He encouraged the government to heed the BRC’s call for establishing a “consent-based siting approach” to finding a new repository, as doing so “may get better results.” * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC's member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of State public utility commissions before the three branches of the Federal government.