Transcripts For CSPAN2 Senate Energy Hearing On Nuclear Wast

Good morning everyone. The committee will come to order we are meeting to examine an issue that effectively weve been at a stalemate for quite some time. What we should do with used nuclear fuel accumulating at the Nuclear Reactors. At a starting point we should recognize that Nuclear Energy is an important part of our countrys electric generation. I believe its a vital part of our mix. The large reactors not landscape provide reliable admissions free power to communities across our country. Our Nations Nuclear industry is critically important but it also faces a number of challenges and one that impacted the first reactors began operation and Nuclear Waste disposition. Beginning with the passage of the Nuclear Waste policy act of 1982 congress attempted several times to address the backend of the fuel cycle. In an effort to resolve an earlier stalemate the federal government was supposed to begin taking title to use fuel and moving it to a repository at Yucca Mountain in nevada beginning in 1998. The federal governments failure to deliver on this promise is now costing taxpayers up to 2 million per day. This hearing is an opportunity for us to consider our next steps on Nuclear Waste. Do we continue to delay in the face of stalemate over yucca or find another path forward for use fuel storage especially for communities maintaining sites with only used fuel caps left on hand with the rest of the plan commission. In 2010 secretary of Energy Steven shoe can be in the ab to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the fuel cycle. The commissions report included a number of recommendations and led to the introduction of the Nuclear Waste Administration Act. Over the years this legislation has been led by a number of members including senators wyden, senator alexander, both on this committee i been a sponsor of the legislation of all along. With senators alexander and senator feinstein. My partners on the energy and water appropriations subcommittee for multiple congresses. Weve been at this for a while and i think its fair to say we would like to put something behind us at some point in time sooner rather than later. Our legislation aims to move the process forward so that we can finally move used fuel to a permanent repository. Our bill creates a Nuclear Waste administration to oversee consentbased deciding for interim storage and an additional repository that can be located in states and communities that want it. The bureau also prioritizes the removal of used fuel and decommission reactor sites for temporary storage consolidated sites. Our bill is s1234. I wish it was as easy as 1234. We know it requires some updates and theres a number of ideas to improve specific sections. I welcome those i look forward to the testimony from our distinguished panel this morning. I would also welcome thoughts and comments from others. Ultimately i hope we can all agree that it is long past time to figure this out. The sooner we find a path forward, the better. Its been six years now since i and others cosponsor this legislation where in the same place effectively in the same place when it comes to the back end of the fuel cycle. As when we introduce that legislation six years ago. But in that time we have seen tremendous progress. In the area of nuclear with our advanced Nuclear Reactors. The United States is the ability to lead the world on some of these technologies but without a solution on Nuclear Waste i believe we are less likely to realize full potential there. We are here today to restart the conversation. I know that chairman barrasso has a bill on Nuclear Waste in his ep w committee. He is keen to move forward on it. Im glad to see weve got renewed interest across congress to address the challenge, its a good thing we got multiple options on the table. I think this is a positive development and i sincerely hope we can move forward on Nuclear Waste after decades of inaction. With that i turned to my Ranking Member and friend senator thank you for having a hearing odd Nuclear Waste Administration Act i want to thank all witnesses here today to provide us with ideas of how to move forward and break our Nuclear Repository impasse. Nuclear energy will continue to be an important part of our Nations Energy mix. Its reliability, especially in adverse weather and the fact is the nation s largest zero mission a paro social. It means its a powerful tool in our flight to mitigate Climate Change and move toward a zero emissions economy. We will continue to rely on nuclear thus we must work on a solution to dispose Nuclear Waste. I believe this bill provides us all a foundation to work from which originated with the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission. On americans nuclear future. I think theres an agreement among us that changes must be made to the current text before moving forward. Dividing an equitable policy pass for Site Selection is something that support is the inequity and Site Selection a large part of the current impasse. Since the National Academy of sciences 1957 report recommended deep geologic disposal for hardy radioactive rent waste its clear what we need to do with the Nuclear Waste. The prudent responsible thing to do is to bury the waist deep in the earth to protect the environment and public for generations to come. Unfortunately the path to achieve this is not entirely clear. I look forward to hearing from our panel today and from my colleagues, many of whom represent constituencies. That deal with Nuclear Waste on a daytoday basis. In particular i want to think chairman makowski, senator cortez moscow for their ongoing leadership on this issue. If weve learned anything in the past 30 years it is that social and political concerns need to be taken into account to site and construct repository. That is not to say the technical considerations are not important. I trust the highly skilled individuals at the National Labs and partners to solve issues that we will face in constructing Storage Solutions that whatever site or sites that are selected where congress should focus on the mechanisms that can drive by in from communities. Other countries in the world have success by creating an organization that separate from an agency or governing body but still regulate the body government. To work with communities to build repository in their respective backyards. In 1987 congress decided to not go with the original Nuclear Waste policy act language. That directed the department of energy to characterize several sites and then make a recommendation. Instead due to the price tag associated with the characterization of several sites Congress Instead legislated this choice. This action politicized is this process while simultaneously discrediting the federal government. It is my hope that following the markup of this bill will be equitable and how it considers all sites. When a site or sites are selected we know it was a fair process and can move forward accordingly. Let us not forget theres urgency in this issue. Spent fuel poles as reactors are capacity and the need to mitigate carbon emission insurance reactors will continue to operate in this country for decades to come. On top of that, failing to the means to federal government is racking up more liability to be paid to the utilities to store the waste in their own private Storage Facilities adjacent to the reactors. The taxpayer is on the hook to the tune of about 2 million a day with an estimated overall liability of 34. 1 billion. Like it or not this means we already have a de facto interim Storage Program in this country thats inefficient and lax costeffectiveness. While we dont have any Nuclear Waste in West Virginia nor do we have Nuclear Reactors, im invested in working with my colleagues in this issue because preserving and growing Nuclear Power is key to addressing the climate crisis. I want to share with you we had the chairman and i had an opportunity to spend some time with bill gates and he went through boom, boom, boom, country by country that has Nuclear Power all going to zero in a time and era when we want to have zero emissions. Something has to be done and we are urging time on this. I like to think senator murkowski for holding this most appropriate time. I think much needed not just for the United States of america but for the world. Thank you. Lets turn to our panel. We have a very distinguished panel. We are joined this morning by maria cores nick, the president and ceo of Nuclear Energy institute. Youve been before the Committee Many times. We welcome you back. Mr. Wayne norton is the chair for the decommissioning Plant Coalition steering committee. Also president and ceo of the yankee atomic electric company. We appreciate you being here this morning. Stephen nesbitt is the chair of the American Nuclear society Nuclear Waste policy tax force we thank you for your leadership with that important task force. Geoffrey fettus is the senior attorney at Nuclear Climate and Clean Energy Program for the Natural Resource Defense Council nrdc we welcome you to the committee. And doctor john wegner is with us with one of our National Labs, he is the associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear Science and Technology Director at the Idaho National lab. We appreciate your leadership in these spaces as well. We will begin with you and miss Maria Korsnick if you can provide comments to the committee we ask that you try to keep comments to about five minutes. Your full statements will be included as part of the record when the full panel has concluded will have an opportunity for questions. Thank you very much. I am Maria Korsnick, president and ceo of the Nuclear Energy institute. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony on the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2019. I sincerely appreciate the committee deliberate effort to develop an effective federal use fuel Management Program. Since the bill was first introduced in 2013 several things have changed. Because of a court order the department of energy has reduced the Nuclear Waste fee funded 20. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Technical staff has also completed reviews of the Yucca Mountain licensing application concluding that yucca come out and complies with all relation. Private initiatives are underway to develop consolidated Storage Facilities in two states. Nuclear energy is the largest and most efficient source of carbon free electricity in the United States. Currently 97 commercial Nuclear Power plants in 29 states divide nearly 20 of americas electricity and more than half of the emissions free electricity. These reactors are carbon free workhorses essential to addressing Climate Change and any realistic manner. That said. The advanced reactors of tomorrow in the u. S. Operating fleet at large are continually subjective to reputational damage because congress for two decades now has played politics with the issue of used fuel. Its vitally important that the u. S. Remains a global heir in the commercial Nuclear Arena and yet we are the only Major Nuclear nation without a used fuel Management Program. The u. S. Nuclear industry has upheld his end of the bargain at sites in 35 states around the country, commercial used fuel is safely stored and managed awaiting pickup by the federal government which was scheduled for 1998. In addition the Nuclear Waste fund which was set up to finance the development of a National Repository currently has over 41 billion in its a which has been contributed by electricity consumers and Nuclear Generation companies. Each year over 1. 5 billion more in interest accumulates in the pond and finally each day we dont have a solution cost taxpayer 2. 2 million in damages. The single largest liability paid out of the Judgment Fund you after year. Its really time to solve this and im excited to talk about how that can be achieved. We need a durable used fuel program we must allow the science not the politics to guide us forward. Let me be clear congressional action is necessary. Three important points must be addressed. First we need to answer on the Yucca Mountain license applicant. Doe submitted the application to the nrc more than a decade ago and congress directed the nrc to issue a decision in 2012. This deadline, like too many, was missed because doe, without basis, shut down the Yucca Mountain project for the sake of the communities holding stranded used fuel wishing to redevelop their sites we must move forward and allow nevada concerns with Yucca Mountain to be heard by nrc independent administrative judges. This will allow licensing decision to be determined based on its scientific merits, rather than politics. Second, as a licensing process of Yucca Mountain moves forward, interim storage can play an Important Role in helping move spent fuel away from the site. Helps to alleviate state and local concerns that interim storage will become the de facto Disposal Facility. This point was highlighted recently in a letter by new mexico governor lujan grisham. That said, im pleased interim storage is addressed in s 1234 Nuclear Waste Administration Act i strongly believe interim storage can be successful if moved in parallel with the Yucca Mountain licensing. Finally, the Nuclear Industry and electricity consumers around the country have paid their fair share to address the backend of the fuel cycle. As 1234 was originally drafted prior to the court mandated prohibition on the fee, i want to strongly convey the importance of not prematurely reimposing the Nuclear Waste fee, especially given the substantial balance and large investment interest which occurs annually. The industry believes the fee should not be reinstated until the annual expense for the programs ongoing projects exceed the annual Investment Income on the fund, and that the projected lifecycle cross demonstrates the fee must be reinstated to achieve full Cost Recovery over the life of the program. The fact that we are here today considering this legislation is a positive step in the right direction. I sincerely appreciate the committees motivation to find a durable solution. We look forward to continuing to work with each and every one of you to reach bipartisan consensus on the best approach for Longterm Management of the nations used fuel. Thank you, i look forward to your questions. Thank you. Mr. Norton, welcome. Good morning chairman murkowski, Ranking Member mansion and members of the committee. My name is wayne norton, the president and ceo of the yankee atomic electric company. ab the three Nuclear Plants that my sites are fully decommissioned both the Storage Facilities f