IB88090
Nuclear Energy Policy
December 17, 2004

Download Locations:

	U.S. Department of State
	University of North Texas Libraries

Summary:

Nuclear energy policy issues facing Congress include questions about radioactive waste management, research and development priorities, power plant safety and regulation, terrorism, and the Price-Anderson Act nuclear liability system. The Bush Administration has stressed the importance of nuclear power in the nation's energy policy. The Administration's FY2005 budget request included $412.6 million for DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science, and Technology, about the same as the FY2004 level. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2005 (P.L. 108-447) provides $513.3 million for the nuclear energy office, including $50.0 million for designing and licensing new commercial reactors and about $34 million for nuclear technology to produce hydrogen. (All FY2005 figures exclude an 0.8% across-the-board reduction.) A conference agreement reached November 17, 2003, on omnibus energy legislation (H.R. 6) would have provided tax credits for electricity generated by new nuclear power plants and authorized funding for a demonstration reactor in Idaho to produce hydrogen. The conference agreement also would have extended Price-Anderson coverage for new commercial reactors and new DOE nuclear contracts through the end of 2023. The bill did not pass, but a two-year Price-Anderson extension for DOE contractors was included in the FY2005 defense authorization act (P.L. 108-375). The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States raised questions about nuclear power plant security. Reactor security provisions were included in the conference agreement on H.R. 6, as well as in a bill (S. 1043) approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on May 15, 2003, but no further action was taken. Disposal of highly radioactive waste has been one of the most controversial aspects of nuclear power. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA, P.L. 97-425), as amended in 1987, requires DOE to conduct detailed physical characterization of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a permanent underground repository for high-level waste. A resolution to allow work at Yucca Mountain to proceed despite state objections was signed by the President on July 23, 2002 (P.L. 107-200). DOE received $580 million for the waste program for FY2004, and the Administration requested $880 million for the program for FY2005, a 50% increase. The Administration also proposed that $749 million of the FY2005 request be offset by a longstanding fee on nuclear power, so that the net appropriation would be only $131 million. Because legislation to enact the proposed offset did not pass, the House voted to provide only the requested $131 million net appropriation in the FY2005 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill (H.R. 4614). Disagreement over nuclear waste stymied Senate action on the energy and water funding bill, and conferees on the consolidated appropriations measure compromised by providing approximately level funding of $577.0 million. Whether progress on nuclear waste disposal and other congressional action will revive the U.S. nuclear power industry's growth will depend primarily on economic considerations. Natural gas- and coal-fired power plants currently are favored over nuclear reactors for new generating capacity. However, some electric utilities are seeking approval of sites for possible new reactors.