Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) chaired an Energy and Commerce hearing on Tuesday to ask members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about its plans to resume its review of the Department of Energy’s license application for the Yucca Mountain repository.
Shimkus, who chairs the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy, scheduled the hearing as a follow-up to the August 13 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The court mandated the NRC complete the Safety Evaluation Report on Yucca Mountain and release it to the public.
Shimkus asked NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane during Tuesday’s hearing if there was a possibility the commission would decide not to issue the report, despite the court order.
Macfarlane said the commission was still deliberating on an answer to the question.
“Electricity consumers and taxpayers have waited 30 years and paid $15 billion dollars to find out whether our independent nuclear safety regulator concluded that Yucca Mountain would be safe or not,” Shimkus said. “Releasing the SER is the next step in the NRC’s process.”
Chairman of the full committee Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), said the committee would continue to hold the administration accountable to the recent court ruling.
“Compliance with the law is not optional,” Upton said.
The committee will require both the NRC and the DOE to provide the committee with monthly reports detailing actions and expenditures involved with the license review process.