[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 87 (Thursday, June 10, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1066]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       REINTRODUCTION OF THE NUCLEAR USED FUEL PRIZE ACT OF 2010

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                        HON. MICHAEL C. BURGESS

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 10, 2010

  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to reintroduce legislation I 
first authored in the 110th Congress. As our country moves toward 
clean, reliable energy, a natural progression will be toward nuclear 
energy. Indeed, earlier this year, President Obama announced $8 billion 
in new federal loan guarantees for two new nuclear power plants in 
Georgia.
  However, as we inevitably move toward greater use of nuclear energy, 
we cannot hide our heads in the sand about the need for safe, reliable 
ways to store and dispose of the waste created by such energy 
production.
  Nuclear power is praised for its zero carbon emissions, but it comes 
at a price--radioactive fuel rods that will continue to emit dangerous 
radiation and be the source of radioactive debris for thousands of 
years. Congress designated Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as the nation's sole 
candidate site for a permanent high-level nuclear waste repository in 
1987. The unused Yucca Mountain site has cost taxpayers an estimated $9 
billion. Over $1.2 billion has been spent on the seventy-one claims 
filed against the Department of Energy for the failure to abide by the 
1987 contract to dispose of spent nuclear fuel.
  There remain deep concerns that Yucca Mountain does not present a 
long-term solution to nuclear waste because of uncertainty about the 
long-term geologic stability of the site. The amount of existing 
nuclear waste already exceeds the storage capacity at the site; 
moreover, the state of Nevada adamantly opposes the site, and other 
locations have not been offered. President Obama and the Secretary of 
Energy Steven Chu have both stated their objections to the proposed 
repository at Yucca Mountain, and President Obama stripped further 
funding for Yucca Mountain in the FY2010 budget.
  Delay in authorizing a nuclear waste site has wasted an enormous sum 
of taxpayer dollars and resources. One proposed alternative to Yucca 
Mountain has been to reprocess spent nuclear fuel in order to recover 
usable fuel and cut down on the volume of waste. The issue remains 
complicated; reprocessing carries the potential of creating weapons-
grade nuclear material thus presenting a global proliferation risk as 
other nations employ the technology. As the United States continues to 
dissuade other nations, namely Iran and North Korea, from nuclear 
reprocessing, we take a dangerous political risk in engaging in the 
process ourselves.
  The legislation I am reintroducing today would encourage the creation 
of an efficient and safe process to store nuclear waste. The Nuclear 
Used Fuel Prize Act of 2010 would set up a competition to design the 
best way to remove and store nuclear waste. I am a strong supporter of 
nuclear power and I look forward to working toward finding a solution 
to storing nuclear waste. I believe this legislation will provide the 
incentives to find permanent solutions to our energy needs.

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