WASHINGTON, DC – House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders today respond to Department of Energy Secretary Moniz’s announcement that DOE would move forward with siting a separate repository for high-level defense nuclear waste.

"DOE’s plan to spin off defense waste from the broader nuclear material storage debate is a red herring," said Environment and the Economy Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL). "It’s no coincidence that this announcement comes after a major op-ed by Nye County Congressman Cresent Hardy and a marked shift in momentum toward continuing the licensing of a central geologic repository. States – particularly states like Washington and South Carolina – who have waited 30 years for DOE to fulfill its legal responsibility to permanently secure their defense waste on federal land, in the desert, under Yucca Mountain should not be fooled by the administration’s latest move to avoid complying with the law."

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said, "I have real concerns with pursuing a secondary site for military waste. Doing so is likely to cast aside the Yucca site with years of work and billions of dollars spent. We passed bipartisan legislation some 30 years ago, and starting from step one looking for another site seems likely to delay a solution for years to come. Yucca Mountain remains the most viable solution for our nation’s nuclear waste policy and it comes with the scientific community’s seal of approval. We remain committed to finding a path forward that works best for the country."

In October 2014, the NRC released Volume III of the Safety Evaluation Report, which concluded that the Department of Energy’s license application meets the long-term nuclear waste repository regulatory and safety requirements, including that Yucca Mountain would remain safe for one million years. According to the Government Accountability Office, DOE has spent nearly $15 billion researching and developing Yucca Mountain since 1983. According to the Government Accountability Office, since 1983, DOE has spent nearly $15 billion researching and developing Yucca Mountain. Approximately $5 billion of this funding came from congressional appropriations to pay for DOE and defense nuclear waste.

###