Upton & Whitfield Demand Answers on NRC Playing Politics with Yucca Mountain
Reps. Upton and Whitfield call for formal investigation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s delay in making a decision on the Yucca Mountain Repository
Washington, DC,
Oct 20 -
U.S. Reps. Fred Upton (MI-06) and Ed Whitfield (KY-01), senior Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today called on the Inspector General of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to formally investigate the NRC Chairman’s decision to delay a vote on the Department of Energy’s legal authority to withdraw the license of the Yucca Mountain permanent nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Despite the scientific community’s seal of approval as well as nearly three decades and billions of dollars invested, the Obama administration has sought to pull the plug on the Yucca Mountain repository without offering a viable alternative.
In the letter to NRC Inspector General Hubert Bell, Upton and Whitfield wrote, “The average nuclear plant generates approximately $430 million in the local community and the operation of a nuclear plant creates 400 to 700 permanent jobs. Any delay to advance nuclear power places our economy and national security at risk.”
The Yucca Mountain project was designated as the nuclear waste repository by the Congress in legislation signed by the President as part of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), as amended in 1987. In 2002, Congress passed a joint resolution reaffirming the site as the country’s nuclear waste repository. This site has been designated to hold the spent nuclear fuel from the nation’s 104 reactors that operate across 31 states, creating a centralized storage location for better national security, and will save the federal government money in the long run.
The Chairman of the Commission recently instructed the NRC staff to stop the review of the license application based on his FY 2011 budget request, which has yet to be approved by Congress. One Commission member, William Ostendorff, subsequently detailed in a memo his objections to the Chairman’s decision to stop the review of the license application.
“Playing political games with this issue, which has been suggested in the news, has already cost taxpayers $1 billion through lawsuits filed and that number is expected to increase to over $50 billion in the next twenty years, not to mention that the federal government has already spent $9 billion constructing the Yucca Mountain project and this would also be wasted money. At a time when we have a nearly $14 trillion debt, these actions are unwise and deserve your attention,” Upton and Whitfield wrote to the Inspector General.
