By Editors of Power Engineering
NRC Chairwoman Kristine Svinicki has asked Congress for $30 million to review the expected restart of a license application to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The funds would be part of the agency’s $952 million budget request for 2018.
Though Senator Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water development, said he favors licensing Yucca Mountain and ending a 25-year stalemate on nuclear waste disposal, he indicated the move would not be enough.
“Even if we had Yucca Mountain open today, we would still need to look for another permanent repository,” he said. “We have more than enough used fuel to fill Yucca Mountain to its legal capacity.”
Alexander indicated he will introduce a bill to create a new federal agency that would find more permanent and temporary storage facilities for nuclear waste.
Yucca Mountain currently faces more than 300 legal challenges, many of which were filed by the state of Nevada over groundwater and water rights concerns.
