House Republicans want a government watchdog to probe whether the Energy Department can still complete the nation’s nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, and if new funding is necessary.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who heads the panel’s environment subcommittee, sent a letter Monday to the Government Accountability Office asking that it to investigate whether the Energy Department can still proceed with the formal application process to build Yucca, after the Obama administration scrapped the project in 2009, directing the agency to withdraw its application from the country’s nuclear power regulator.
Scrapping the project was seen as a favor to then-Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is adamantly opposed to making the site in his state the main receptacle for the nation’s nuclear reactor waste.
A federal court later ruled that the administration could not arbitrarily cancel a project without congressional approval. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing the Energy Department’s application. But the lawmakers want to know if they should still allocate federal taxpayer money to the Department of Energy to support its end of the application process.
“Should Congress appropriate additional funding to complete the Yucca Mountain [license application]?” the letter asks. The Energy Department “must … defend the [application] during the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s] review process. In doing so, DOE would have to utilize contract support and have an organization to manage the activities.”
The Energy Department will have to defend its application from more than 200 challenges filed by the state of Nevada and others opposing the site.
