Reprocessing facilities and $1 million for temporarily storing used fuel was defeated on May 21st in an 11-11 vote. The amendment was an attempt by the GOP to bring new facilities on line and move the nation back in to reprocessing of nuclear waste material.
The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee defeated the amendment on Thursday with an 11-11 vote. The amendment was sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (Republican from Alaska) and is one of three GOP amendments the committee rejected. A fourth amendment from Senator Bernie Sanders (independent from Vermont) was also rejected by the committee. Senator Mary Landrieu (Democrat from Louisiana) voted along with 10 Republicans.
Murkowski has another amendment that she will propose at a later point in time that would call for the creation of a private nuclear fuel management corporation. Chairman Jeff Bingaman (Democrat from New Mexico) proposed a draft bill that would create an 11-member commission to study alternatives to the failing Yucca Mountain, Nevada site. The members of the commission would be selected by the president. One of the first goals of the newly proposed commission would be to find permanent disposal sites other than Yucca Mountain. Finding long-term storage sites has proven to be a highly charged political and logistical issue. Locating suitable on site storage solutions as well as regional sites are additional concerns for the proposed commission. The highly debated issue of reprocessing Spent Fuel is also a task the commission faces.
"Yucca Mountain is the most studied piece of real estate on the planet, and we equally know what the alternatives are. I think that this amendment gives the public and the nuclear industry the confidence it needs to move forward with nuclear energy" offered Murkowski. She also stated "I look at yet another commission to be an inadequate response." Chairman Bingaman agreed with Murkowski citing the need for the country to have a nuclear energy solution as part of its overall energy plan. Bingaman went on to say that he believed an interagency working group was needed as was a nuclear energy advisory council for the secretary of Energy. The Chairman further stated he was open to suggestions regarding the length of term for the commission as well as the makeup of the panel.
Bingaman was opposed to allowing local government the authority to create a site for temporary storage of nuclear waste without authorization from the governors or state legislatures. He sited the need for the incorporation of current laws that include the appropriate protections.
Chairman Bingaman was also not supportive of a provision for cost-sharing of nuclear reprocessing. He offered, "I don't believe we should commit the nation to reprocessing at this stage." Bingaman went on to explain that the attempts of 45 years ago "proved to be an economical and technical failure." He expressed his desire for further study stating "Let's not start down that path again without appropriate study."
Cybersecurity issues were also addressed by the committee who made changes to the draft on electric grid security. The changes called for measures to protect the electronic grid as well as changes in the authority for overseeing those changes.
Amendments that passed would address issues of privacy and disclosure, cost recovery for emergency actions, a call for a plan by the Defense Department to protect military installations who are not on the country's power grid and the termination of any interim rules by the FERC once a standard is approved through normal process.
