Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank our ranking member, Mr. Tonko.

I rise in support of H.R. 3053. Congress first passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act back in 1982, but more than 35 years later, we still do not have a national solution to address the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel. Instead, it continues to sit on site at our Nation's nuclear power plants.

This becomes a concern as more and more nuclear power reactors are scheduled to shut down in the coming years, including the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey. As these reactors shut down, the surrounding communities are realizing that the nuclear waste currently stored at these sites will be there indefinitely when the plant closes, absent a workable national solution. This situation underscores the need for interim storage solutions to bridge the gap until a permanent repository is licensed and constructed.

The bill before us today is a bipartisan compromise that was reported out of the Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 49-4. Democrats on the committee, especially Representative Matsui, worked with Mr. Tonko to craft a bipartisan compromise that establishes an interim storage pilot program, which will allow for consolidated temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel, with priority given to waste currently stored at decommissioned nuclear power plants.

This will allow us to consolidate waste at a single site instead of 121 sites in communities around the country. One consolidated site will help ensure it is managed more safely and securely, while allowing communities with decommissioned plants to begin working towards redeveloping those sites.

Now, some of the opponents of this bill have focused on claims that spent nuclear fuel could be transported through many congressional districts across the country, and that is true. Spent nuclear fuel will ultimately need to be transported from power plants to an interim storage facility or repository. But moving nuclear material by rail and truck has occurred frequently for decades, and the NRC notes that thousands of shipments have occurred over decades without incident.

So regardless of your position on the Yucca Mountain project--I know people feel strongly on both sides of that, but regardless, spent nuclear fuel will need to be transported somewhere in the U.S. unless all of the spent fuel is to be left at the site of a nuclear power plant that may no longer even produce power.

Mr. Chairman, this bill is a balanced bill that I support, just as it is also supported by the AFL-CIO, the IBEW, and the other building trades. It will begin the process of moving waste out of communities, particularly those home to a shut down nuclear power plant. It will also help fulfill the commitment to taxpayers who have paid more than $50 billion dollars into the nuclear waste program.

So I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill. I thank both Mr. Shimkus, the main sponsor who worked so hard; obviously, Mr. Tonko; Ms. Matsui; and, of course, the chairman of our committee, Mr. Walden, as well.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source