A bill designed to resurrect the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage venture in Nevada and spur pursuit of interim options was approved by a U.S. House panel Wednesday.
The bill, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019, received bipartisan support from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including backing from U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, who has repeatedly argued in favor of the fizzled repository.
The South Carolina Republican spoke – sometimes intensely – during the committee markup, specifically referencing the Savannah River Site and the nuclear waste currently stored there. Duncan has previously said Yucca Mountain would be the ideal vault for the site's waste.
"Get it off the shores of Lake Keowee," Duncan said during a 2018 conference call, "let's get it away from the Savannah River Site."
Congress in the 1980s first identified Yucca Mountain, located in a remote Nevada locale, to become the nation's nuclear storehouse. Another green light was given in 2002.
But the outlook for Yucca Mountain – that includes funding – soured during President Barack Obama's time in office. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, a federal spending watchdog, has said the project was terminated for political reasons.
Duncan last year traveled to Yucca Mountain alongside other members of Congress. Some of the trip was livestreamed.
The sweeping agreement is valued at $186 million, according to information reviewed by the Aiken Standard. An announcement from the NNSA on Tu…
"It's a national solution to a national problem," Duncan said Wednesday of the mothballed repository. "Thirty-nine states have this waste, and they don't want it in their state as a long-term repository, whether that's on the shores of the Great Lakes or whether that's on the shores of the Broad River."
U.S. Reps. Greg Walden and John Shimkus, Republicans representing Oregon and Illinois, respectively, applauded the advancing of the bill. Shimkus is a longtime proponent of Yucca Mountain.
"Now, it's time to swiftly pass this legislation through the House and Senate and get it to President Trump for his signature," they said in a joint statement. "We are committed to seeing this through for the American people."
Duncan said something similar: "It's time that Congress stop this inaction on Yucca Mountain and move forward."
Resistance, though, is expected from Nevada's delegation.
Members of that bloc have previously voiced concerns of geological fitness, national security and community consent, as examples. The other issue often raised: becoming a nuclear dumping ground, the same worry South Carolina lawmakers have when it comes to the Savannah River Site.
"If we're to resolve the nuclear waste issue," Duncan said Wednesday, "we have to return to the law."
