RL33558
Nuclear Energy Policy
September 02, 2008
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Summary
Nuclear energy policy issues facing Congress include the implementation of federal incentives for new commercial reactors, radioactive waste management policy, research and development priorities, power plant safety and regulation, nuclear weapons proliferation, and security against terrorist attacks. The Bush Administration has called for an expansion of nuclear power. For nuclear energy research and development -- including advanced reactors, fuel cycle technology and facilities, nuclear hydrogen production, and infrastructure support -- the Department of Energy (DOE) requested $1.419 billion, about 40% higher than the FY2008 appropriation of $1.033 billion. The FY2009 request included an 80% increase in assistance for new commercial reactor orders (Nuclear Power 2010), a 70% increase for nuclear spent fuel reprocessing R&D (the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative), and a 75% boost for a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility to make fuel from surplus weapons plutonium. Those activities are funded by various appropriations accounts through DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy. The House Appropriations Committee recommended $1.317 billion for FY2009. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to fully fund the MOX project at the Administration's request of $487.0 million but place it under the National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. As a result, the Senate panel's funding total for the Office of Nuclear Energy is $803.0 million, $50.6 million below the comparable request and $120.1 million above the comparable FY2008 level. Significant incentives for new commercial reactors were included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58), signed by the President on August 8, 2005. These include production tax credits, loan guarantees, insurance against regulatory delays, and extension of the Price-Anderson Act nuclear liability system. Together with higher fossil fuel prices and the possibility of greenhouse gas controls, the federal incentives for nuclear power have helped spur renewed interest by utilities and other potential reactor developers. Plans for as many as 31 reactor license applications have been announced. Disposal of highly radioactive waste has been one of the most controversial aspects of nuclear power. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (P.L. 97-425), as amended in 1987, requires DOE to conduct a detailed physical characterization of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a permanent underground repository for high-level waste. DOE submitted a license application for the Yucca Mountain repository to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on June 3, 2008, with the repository to open by 2020 at the earliest. The FY2009 budget request for the nuclear waste program was $494.7 million; the House Appropriations Committee approved the full amount, and the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $388.4 million. The FY2009 request is 28% above the FY2008 appropriation of $386.4 million, but the FY2008 level is about $50 million below the FY2007 level.
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Related Legislation:
- S.31
- S.28
