Senate bill to create Nuclear Waste Administration

Legislation recently introduced in the Senate to create a pathway for the safe and permanent disposal of the nation’s stockpiles of spent nuclear fuel from sites across the country.

The bill, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act (NWAA) of 2019 (S. 1234), would establish an independent agency, the Nuclear Waste Administration, to manage the country’s nuclear waste program in place of the Department of Energy (DOE). An administrator selected by the president would head this agency, and the selection would be subject to Senate confirmation.

“As we make the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors a reality, it is also time to end our country’s stalemate on nuclear waste,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “Our bipartisan legislation will ensure the federal government finally fulfills its obligation to address the back-end of the fuel cycle. I thank my colleagues for once again coming together to lead on this important issue, and look forward to holding a hearing on this legislation in the near future.”

The Nuclear Waste Administration would build a pilot storage facility to hold spent fuel from decommissioned nuclear power plants and emergency shipments from operating plants. Further, it directs the agency to build consolidated storage facilities for non-priority spent fuel for utilities or defense wastes for DOE temporarily. It also authorizes the administrator to begin siting a pilot storage facility for priority waste immediately and does not set waste volume restrictions on storage.

“If we want a future with nuclear power that produces clean, cheap, and reliable energy and creates good jobs that keep America competitive in a global economy, then we have to solve the nuclear waste stalemate,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), another of the bill’s sponsors, said. “This bipartisan legislation would implement the Blue Ribbon Commission’s recommendations and resolve a decades-old fight over what to do with our country’s nuclear waste by creating both temporary and permanent storage sites that could be located in states and communities that want them there.”

The legislation would also establish a new working capital fund in the U.S. Treasury, into which the fees collected from utilities would be deposited. These funds will be available to the administration without further appropriation. The bill also authorizes the Secretary of Energy to revisit the decision to blend defense waste with commercial spent fuel.

“The federal government has a responsibility to safely store nuclear waste and the surest way to make progress now is by finding sites that have the consent of their states and local communities,” co-sponsor Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said. “Our bill embodies the expert recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission for developing interim storage facilities and long-term repositories to consolidate the spent nuclear fuel that today is scattered across the country. After years of inaction, it’s time to finally take action to solve the issue of where to safely store our nuclear waste.”