Late News

摘要

Gnep was zeroed out in the house appropriations bill for fiscal year 2009. A June 26 summary from the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development stated that the Department of Energy's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, which would include the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, "undermines our nation's nuclear nonproliferation policy." And in a statement released on June 17, Rep. Peter Visclosky (D., Ind.), subcommittee chairman, calls GNEP "counterproductive, poorly designed, and poorly executed." The subcommittee, however, approved funding for the DOE's Yucca Mountain repository project at $494.7 million, which is the amount requested by the DOE for FY 2009. The Nuclear Energy Institute applauded the House's decision to fully fund Yucca Mountain. Alex Flint, NEI's senior vice president for government affairs, said in a June 27 statement that the repository project is a key component of an integrated spent fuel management strategy in the United States. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 10 approved FY 2009 funding for Yucca Mountain at $386.4 million, the same level as FY 2008 funding, but $108.3 million less than the amount the DOE had requested (and the amount approved by the House). The committee also approved $229 million-$50 million more than current-year funding-for the DOE's Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, which is the technology development component of GNEP.