Lance Delivers: 3,000 Metric Tons of Nuclear Waste One Step Closer To Being Shipped Out Of New Jersey

Statement

Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-07) today helped secure passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, legislation drafted by Lance's Energy and Commerce Committee to move the Nation's more than 80,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel -- including 3,000 metric tons stored on-site in New Jersey -- to secure temporary sites in New Mexico and Texas. The legislation would also create a permanent national repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

"I want the 3,000 metric tons of nuclear waste out of New Jersey and consolidated at a national, permanent facility. For far too long the federal government has failed to meet its obligation to dispose of used fuel that resides at nuclear plants across 39 states. It is time we resolve the nuclear waste storage problem that has been unresolved for thirty years," said Lance, a co-sponsor of the measure.

New Jersey is home to four nuclear reactors at three generating stations: Oyster Creek, Hope Creek and Salem. Oyster Creek is closing this upcoming October. The state gets about 50 percent of its electricity from nuclear sources and is one of the Nation's top contributors to a fund to securely dispose of the nation's nuclear waste. Yet a permanent national facility has yet to materialize.

"New Jersey ratepayers have contributed nearly $2 billion to the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Waste Fund to dispose of nuclear waste at the permanent repository at Yucca Mountain. Garden State taxpayers deserve their return on that investment. It is time for the government to hold up its end of the bargain and remove this waste from New Jersey and other parts of the country permanently," concluded Lance.

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