WASHINGTON, DC - House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders today applauded the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recent announcement approving the final rule on the environmental effects of continued storage of spent nuclear fuel. The Commission also decided to lift the agency’s suspension of issuing final licensing actions for nuclear plants and renewals.
“This action is a welcome step in getting our nuclear future back on track. The NRC can resume fulfilling its core function of issuing licenses, and the commission’s first priority should be completing all pending licenses safely and as soon as possible," commented full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-KY), and Environment and the Economy Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL).
Energy and Commerce Committee members previously wrote to NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane on July 23, 2014, urging the commission to act quickly on its waste confidence rule regarding environmental impacts of spent nuclear fuel. Today’s decision marks the completion of a two-year effort designed to satisfy a remand by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
