TAXPAYER WATCHDOG GROUP, SENATORS BLAST ADMINISTRATION FAILURE TO DISPOSE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
Press Release
For Daybooks/Calendar of Events | Contact: Jim Campi |
January 28, 1998 | (202) 467-5300 |
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) will join Senators Larry Craig (R-Idaho), Rod Grams (R-Minn.) and Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) at a news conference to discuss the Clinton Administration’s failure to dispose of spent nuclear fuel as required by law. The news conference will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, January 30, 1998, and will be held in Room SC-6 (the Senate Terrace Room) of the U.S. Capitol.
Since 1983, consumers of nuclear energy have been required to pay a federal surcharge
that went into the Nuclear Waste Trust Fund. This fund was intended to pay for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel rods by the Department of Energy (DOE) beginning on January 31, 1998. Not only has DOE squandered the trust fund, the department has also ignored federal court decisions requiring them to accept the spent fuel. Thanks to DOE incompetence, taxpayers may wind up paying out an additional $3.3 billion a year to properly dispose of the fuel rods.
Sen. Murkowski has introduced legislation to alleviate the situation. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997 (S. 104) would direct DOE to establish an interim waste storage facility until a permanent facility is online. Similar legislation (H.R. 1270) was passed in the House last year.