Today marks the Obama administration’s debt deadline, and lawmakers in both parties are rushing to comply. The House hurriedly passed the Budget Control Act yesterday on a vote of 269 to 161. Sixty-six conservatives broke ranks. The Senate is expected to vote today; several conservatives have already voiced their opposition. Meanwhile, transparency promises are being ignored on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) will visit Heritage today for The Bloggers Briefing. He is one of the 22 conservatives who voted against Speaker John Boehner’s bill to raise the debt …
On June 28, 2010, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board—a three-judge panel charged with conducting licensing hearings for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)—rejected the Department of Energy’s motion to withdraw the license application to move forward with opening Yucca Mountain, the geologic repository meant to store our nation’s used nuclear fuel. Before the board’s decision can become final, however, the NRC must vote on whether or not to accept it. The problem is that NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko refuses to allow the commission to consider the ASLB’s conclusions. This is …
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is refusing to release an unredacted version of its safety evaluation reports on Yucca Mountain, leaving the conclusions unknown to the public. The agency notified Heritage that it had rejected an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act. The NRC’s decision comes eight months after Heritage first requested volumes II and III of the Yucca report in October. The NRC released more than 1,400 pages in February, but redacted the conclusions. Heritage appealed in March. (Full text of the letter is below.) The NRC’s reports on …
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said there is bipartisan support in Congress to move forward with the nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, noting that lawmakers could reaffirm that decision in a vote this summer. Upton, speaking at The Bloggers Briefing this afternoon, criticized the actions of Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, whose opposition to the Yucca Mountain project was the subject of a harsh inspector general report earlier this month. “I’m convinced there is bipartisan support for Yucca and I suspect we’ll have a vote on …
The Department of Energy (DOE) holds approximately the equivalent of 59,000 tons of natural uranium. This includes low-enriched uranium, highly enriched uranium, depleted uranium left over from past enrichment, and natural uranium. With additional processing, much of it could be used to fuel America’s nuclear reactors. Depending on the spot price of uranium and the process required to get it to usable form, the DOE’s excess uranium is worth approximately $7 billion. Leaving the uranium under government control makes no sense. It not only denies taxpayers the value of the …
Today the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology released a comprehensive report that details the Obama Administration’s attempt to prematurely and unnecessarily shut down the used nuclear fuel repository at Yucca Mountain. The report demonstrates that issues surrounding opening Yucca Mountain are purely political and not one bit scientific and technical. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the report is the information revealed from Volume III of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Safety Evaluation Report (SER), which was obtained as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request from …
As a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, The Heritage Foundation today obtained the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Yucca Mountain Volume III Safety Evaluation Report (SER). This document is critical because it contains the NRC’s conclusions regarding the scientific and technological merits of the Department of Energy’s application to construct and operate the high level nuclear waste repository. The NRC’s assessment should be the final word on the whether or not the Yucca facility could be safely built and operated; hence its conclusions have been much anticipated. …
Controversy continues to grow around Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s unilateral decision to order the NRC staff to stop its work on Yucca Mountain. The chairman defended his actions in a letter to the editor published by Energy Daily last week (subscription required). He suggested that he was authorized to stop work on Yucca by the 2011 budget. Never mind that the budget was never passed. The Chairman simply states that: “the administrative actions the agency has taken are simply a matter of efficient resource management and good government.” …
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko has ordered his staff to stop the review of the nuclear materials repository at Yucca Mountain. Aside from the harmful policy implications of this action, the chairman seems to be moving forward without any authority to do so. President Obama has made it clear that he supports terminating the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository. And despite there being no scientific or technical evidence to support the decision and the fact that he has no plan for how the United States should manage its nuclear …
In March of 2010, the Department of Energy (DOE) filed a motion to withdraw its licensing application to construct the geologic nuclear materials repository at Yucca Mountain. If successful, the action would essentially terminate the project. Yesterday, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, the three-judge panel charged with conducting licensing hearings for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected that motion. This is a resounding victory for the future of nuclear energy. Though the Board’s decision was a surprise, it was the correct decision. Existing statute is clear that Yucca Mountain shall …
