An additional $47.7 million was requested for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in FY201 9 (up from $30 million in FY2018) to resume its licensing process for Yucca Mountain. After deciding to terminate the Yucca Mountain repository project, the Obama Administration established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (BRC) to develop a new nuclear waste policy. 3053 , H.Rept. Private-Sector Waste Storage Sites

An NRC license application for a spent fuel storage facility in New Mexico was filed March 30, 2017, by Holtec International, a manufacturer of spent fuel storage systems. It is similar to bills ( H.R. In planning to restart the Yucca Mountain program, the Trump Administration announced in its FY2019 budget request (and the FY2018 request) that DOE would conduct a new cost assessment for determining the level of the nuclear waste fee, based on previous cost estimates for Yucca Mountain. 97-425 ), as amended in 1987, requires DOE to focus on Yucca Mountain, NV, as the site of a deep underground repository for spent nuclear fuel and other highly radioactive waste. DOE submitted a license application for the repository to NRC on June 3, 2008, and projected that the repository could begin receiving waste in 2020, about 22 years later than the 1998 goal established by NWPA. However, the Obama Administration made a policy decision that the Yucca Mountain repository should not be opened, largely because of Nevada's continuing opposition, although it requested FY2010 funding to continue the NRC licensing process. The Trump Administration's proposal to restart the Yucca Mountain project in FY2019 would provide funding for a Yucca Mountain program office, legal and technical support for the Yucca Mountain license application to NRC, and the management of millions of documents supporting the application. The nuclear power industry has supported completion of NRC's licensing review of Yucca Mountain along with the pursuit of alternative storage and disposal facilities. 5895 ), the House included $100 million above the Administration's Yucca Mountain funding request, while no funds were provided by the Senate. 3053 ), which passed the House on May 10, 2018, would satisfy a major condition for licensing the Yucca Mountain repository by withdrawing the repository site from use under public lands laws and placing it solely under DOE's control. It would also authorize DOE to store spent fuel at an NRC-licensed interim storage facility owned by a nonfederal entity. Another major provision would increase the capacity limit on the Yucca Mountain repository from 70,000 to 110,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel, in comparison with the 80,000 metric tons stored at U.S. nuclear plants at the end of 2017. 4442 ) on November 17, 2017, to authorize DOE to store spent fuel from nuclear plants at privately owned consolidated storage facilities. H.R. Spent Nuclear Fuel

			Current Program and Proposed Policy Changes

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 established a system for selecting a geologic repository for the permanent disposal of up to 70,000 metric tons (77,000 tons) of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste. DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) was created to carry out the program. Interim storage facilities are especially needed so that waste can be removed from shutdown reactor sites, the commission said. However, WCS subsequently formed a joint venture with Orano USA called Waste Control Partners, which submitted a renewed application for the Texas facility on June 11, 2018. Concluding Discussion

Disposal of radioactive waste will be a key issue in the continuing nuclear power debate. The "consent based" nuclear waste siting process recommended by the Blue Ribbon Commission, and which would be authorized by the Senate Appropriations Committee's FY2018 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill and other legislation, has attracted serious interest from localities in New Mexico and Texas. Reports on current nuclear waste issues. The Road to Yucca Mountain: The Development of Radioactive Waste Policy in the United States.
Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The United States currently has no permanent disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel or other highly radioactive waste.
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository. NWPA established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management in the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop such a repository, which would be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Amendments to NWPA in 1987 restricted DOE's repository site studies to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DOE submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository to NRC on June 3, 2008. The State of Nevada strongly opposes the Yucca Mountain project, citing excessive water infiltration, earthquakes, volcanoes, human intrusion, and other technical issues.
Licensing and design work for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository was halted under the Obama Administration, which cited continued opposition from Nevada. To develop an alternative nuclear waste policy, the Obama Administration established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, which in 2012 recommended a "consent based" process for siting nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.
The Trump Administration included funds to restart Yucca Mountain licensing in its FY2018 and FY2019 budget submissions to Congress. The FY2018 Yucca Mountain funding request was not enacted. For FY2019, the House voted to provide $100 million above the Administration's request for Yucca Mountain, while the Senate zeroed it out (H.R. 5895).
Although no funding has been appropriated for Yucca Mountain activities since FY2010, a federal appeals court on August 13, 2013, ordered NRC to continue the licensing process with previously appropriated funds. The NRC staff completed its safety evaluation report on Yucca Mountain on January 29, 2015, concluding that the repository would meet NRC standards after specific additional actions were taken, such as acquisition of land and water rights.
A bill to provide the necessary land controls for the planned Yucca Mountain repository (H.R. 3053, H.Rept. 115-355) passed the House on May 10, 2018. In addition, the House-passed bill would authorize DOE to store commercial waste from nuclear power plants at a nonfederal interim storage facility. It would also increase the capacity limit on the Yucca Mountain repository from 70,000 to 110,000 metric tons, in comparison with the approximately 80,000 metric tons currently stored at U.S. nuclear plants.
Nonfederal interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel are being proposed in New Mexico and Texas. An NRC license application for the New Mexico facility was filed March 30, 2017. Developers of the proposed Texas storage site filed a license application in 2016, subsequently withdrew it because of rising costs, and then submitted a renewed application with an additional partner on June 11, 2018. Interim storage proponents contend that DOE could fulfill its disposal obligations under NWPA by taking title to spent fuel at nuclear plant sites and storing it at private facilities until a permanent underground repository could be opened.
NWPA required DOE to begin removing spent fuel from reactor sites by January 31, 1998. Because that deadline was missed, nuclear utilities have sued DOE to recover the additional storage costs they have incurred, with damage payment so far totaling $6.9 billion.