WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today called for the swift deployment of an integrated spent nuclear fuel management strategy, including the implementation of more proliferation-resistant recycling technologies to aid in the expansion of nuclear power.

 

            In an Energy Committee hearing to discuss the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), Domenici expressed frustration at the lack of movement on dealing with our nation’s nuclear waste.  He pointed out that the government’s failure to move spent fuel to Yucca Mountain starting in 1998 is costing taxpayers $1.3 billion per year, putting the expense at $11 billion even if the repository opens in 2020.   

 

           “I have remained committed to helping nuclear power reach its full potential in this country, yet we are still lagging behind on what to do with our nuclear waste.  If the Department of Energy cannot start taking spent fuel from our reactors, the liability for DOE’s failure will continue to accumulate and accelerate. We must act quickly to address our spent nuclear fuel issue and ensure that taxpayers are spared the direct costs resulting from our flawed Yucca Mountain strategy,” Domenici said.

 

          Domenici also noted that Yucca Mountain—the nation’s only storage site determined to be suitable for the burial of spent nuclear fuel—would meet its 70,000 metric ton limit even before opening between 2017-2020.  If recycling technology is not developed to meet this limitation, a second repository would need to be built in order to address the nation’s disposal needs.

 

           “We must have a path forward--not 50 years from now, but now.  We are left with only one choice; that is, focus on an integrated fuel strategy that will address our liability question immediately, and implement a recycling strategy that will avoid the political and economic nightmare that would result from attempts to site a second repository, as the current law requires.  The faster that we address this issue, the sooner we save money for the American taxpayer and remove obstacles to the safe, permanent storage of all of our nation’s nuclear waste.”

 

            The GNEP program was established by President Bush as part of his Advanced Energy Initiative, and seeks to develop an expanded use of global nuclear power while deploying technologies that enable the recycling of radioactive waste.  As then-Chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, Domenici succeeded in funding the GNEP program with $167.5 million for FY 2007.

 

             Witness at the hearing included: Hon. Dennis Spurgeon, Assistant Secretary Office Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy; Peter Orszag, Ph.D.Director Congressional Budget Office; Terry Wallace, Ph.D. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM; Neil Todreas Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Ma; Matthew Bunn, Ph.D. Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Cambridge, MA and Pattabi Seshadri of The Boston Consulting Group, Dallas, TX.

 

 

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