The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Senate section on pages S9933 on July 13, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
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CIVILIAN RADIO ACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, the Secretary of Energy has transmitted to the Senate legislation to amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to create a new funding approach for the Department of Energy's civilian radioactive waste management program. This program was created to meet the Department's obligation under the NWPA to provide for the disposal of spent civilian nuclear fuel in a permanent geologic repository by 1998.
To fund the program, the NWPA requires DOE to collect a fee of one mill per kilowatt hour on electricity generated by nuclear energy. The fee is collected by utilities from their ratepayers in their monthly bills and placed into a special nuclear waste fund in the Treasury. The fund receives approximately $600 million per year from collections and interest. To date, approximately $9 billion in fees and interest has been placed in the fund.
Although the nuclear waste fund has a balance of about $4.9 billion that was collected from ratepayers for precisely this purpose, the money is considered to be on-budget, and as such, is subject to discretionary spending caps under Gramm-Rudman-Hollings. Thus, any increases over past spending levels will require spending reductions in other DOE programs under the spending cap. As a part of the DOE fiscal year 1995 budget request, DOE proposed that future contributions to the nuclear waste fund be set aside in a special off-budget fund for the program, with one-half of those funds available as a permanent appropriation each year. This proposal, which would have required legislative action, was not adopted by the Congress. Instead, increased funding for the program was provided under DOE's discretionary spending caps. In its fiscal year 1996 budget request, DOE has proposed again that a mandatory appropriation be established from the nuclear waste fund of $431.6 million per year. The legislation proposed by DOE would be necessary to effectuate that change.
I believe that this legislation has no chance of success. There is strong opposition to taking the waste fund off budget for a variety of reasons. First in my mind is the limitation on budgetary oversight that would result from such an arrangement. Although DOE will have spent over $4.2 billion through the first quarter of fiscal year 1995 on the program, DOE has conceded that the 1998 deadline for the acceptance of spent nuclear fuel will not be met. Both the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board and the General Accounting Office have issued reports that are critical of the management of the Yucca Mountain program. Although DOE has recently made progress in improving the management of the program, in the past, overhead has consumed 56 percent of the funding for site characterization.
What is needed is more oversight and involvement by the Congress, not less. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is considering legislation that would alter the structure of the NWPA and DOE's program, with the goal of providing for the more efficient use of the ratepayer's money. Funding and oversight issues will be considered in the context of that legislation. Therefore, although I am not introducing this bill as legislation, I am acknowledging receipt of the administration's proposal and request that it be printed in the Record.
The material follows;
Proposed Legislation
A bill to provide additional flexibility for the Department of Energy's program for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Nuclear Waste Disposal Funding Act''.
SEC. 2. NUCLEAR WASTE FUND AVAILABILITY.
Section 302 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222) is amended by inserting the following after subsection (e):
``(f) Nuclear Waste Fund Availability.--(1) If the condition in subsection (g)(2) is met, the net proceeds from the sale of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation which are deposited in a special fund in the Treasury under subsection
(g)(1) may be used by the Department for radioactive waste disposal activities under this Act. No more than the following amounts shall be made available in the fiscal year specified--
``(A) for fiscal year 1996, $431,600,000;
``(B) for fiscal year 1997, $540,000,000; and
``(C) for fiscal year 1998, $627,400,000.
The net proceeds are the revenues derived from the sale of U.S. Enrichment Corporation stock, based upon its sales price less cash payments to the purchasers and less the value assigned to highly enriched and natural uranium transferred from the Department to U.S. Enrichment Corporation after February 1, 1995, as specified in the stock offering prospectus of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation. In determining net proceeds, the cash and the value of highly enriched uranium shall be prorated in proportion to the amount of stock that is sold to non-Federal entities.
``(2) In addition to the amounts in paragraph (1), amounts deposited in the Nuclear Waste Fund in fiscal years 1996, 1997, and 1998 resulting from any increase in the fee established under this section shall be available to the Department for expenditure for radioactive waste disposal activities under this Act.
``(3) Amounts available under this subsection shall remain available until expended, without further appropriation but within any specific directives and limitations included in appropriations Acts. Amounts for radioactive waste disposal activities shall be included in the annual budget submitted to Congress for Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund activities.
``(g) Offsets.--(1) The net proceeds from the sale of all stock of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation shall be deposited in a special fund in the Treasury and be available for the purposes specified in subsection (f).
``(2) If the President so designates, the net proceeds shall be included in the budget baseline required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and shall be counted for the purposes of section 252 of that Act as an offset to direct spending, notwithstanding section 257(e) of that Act.''.
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