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28 September 2006 -- U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Pete V. Domenici introduced a new bill that would speed up the process to deliver nuclear waste to the Yucca Mountain Repository reserve, called "NU-WAY."
In a statement, Domenici said the bill puts the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository back on track by authorizing the land withdrawal and the construction of infrastructure needed at the repository. The bill, cosponsored by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, also authorizes the U.S. Department of Energy to begin moving defense fuel to an above-ground storage facility at the repository within the Nevada Test Site as soon as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues a license for the storage facility.
The bill requires DOE to submit a license application for the storage facility at the same time it submits the license application for Yucca. DOE has said it expects to submit the Yucca license application in June 2008. The NRC could grant the license for the above-ground storage facility 18 months later. Under the Domenici bill, defense fuel could be consolidated at the above-ground site at the repository as early as 2010.
NU-WAY also authorizes DOE to begin moving civilian spent fuel to the above-ground storage site as soon as the NRC issues the construction authorization for Yucca and after the DOE Secretary determines that there will not be recycling option available for that fuel within a reasonable period of time. According to the DOE schedule, the construction authorization will be issued in September 2011.
"Congress in 2002 approved Yucca Mountain as the national repository for spent nuclear fuel. That decision has been made. But the project has encountered one delay after another. I consider Yucca Mountain the cornerstone of our nation's spent nuclear fuel strategy and I hope my bill gets this critical project back on track," Domenici said.
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