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AMERICAN PUBLIC RTM ASSOCIATION Powering Strong Communities ISSUE BRIEF January 2017 Nuclear Power Background Spent Nuclear Fuel Nuclear power is the nation's largest source of emissions-free The United States has long searched for a solution to address electricity,accounting for 60 percent of domestic emission-free the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle(also referred to as spent electricity generation and 19.5 percent of total electricity nuclear fuel or"nuclear waste").In 1982,Congress passed the generation. It is a reliable source of baseload(i.e.,available most Nuclear Waste Policy Act(NWPA),which assigned responsibil- of the time)energy.Given these characteristics,nuclear plays a ity to DOE to site,construct,and operate a final repository for significant part in ensuring reliable,zero-emissions electricity spent nuclear fuel.In 1987,Congress amended the NWPA and service. designated Yucca Mountain as the sole site for DOE to consider, Overall,public power utilities in 2015 generated 17.1 after conducting studies of nine potential sites. percent of their electricity from nuclear power. Public power As part of the NWPA,a surcharge of one-tenth of one cent utilities both own and operate nuclear reactors outright,or part- was placed on electricity produced from nuclear power plants ner with other utilities to co-own a facility. In addition,public to fund the federal government's efforts to construct the final power utilities receive power from nuclear power plants through depository.Nuclear energy consumers,through this surcharge, bi-lateral contracts,indirectly through electricity markets,or in paid a total of$30 billion into the nuclear waste fund,or more the case of those located in the Tennessee Valley,by purchasing than$750 million per year.In 2008,DOE began pursuing power generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority(TVA), a license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC or which owns and operates several nuclear power plants. Commission)to construct a facility at Yucca Mountain.How- The American Public Power Association(Association or ever,despite spending nearly$15 billion dollars on the project, APPA)supports the continued use of nuclear power,a key the Obama administration,in 2009,eliminated funding for the source of baseload,emissions-free electricity.The Association project and in 2010,DOE moved to withdraw its license. believes the federal government should make the construction Due to the federal government's failure to fulfill its obli- of an interim storage facility for nuclear waste in a willing host gations under the NWPA to construct a repository,the U.S. community a priority.The Department of Energy(DOE)must Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit,in 2013,ordered DOE also follow its statutory obligations and construct a final repos- to zero out the nuclear waste fee.DOE complied with the order, itory for nuclear waste,whether at Yucca Mountain,or another and as of May 2014,no longer collects the fee.Separately,on location.Federal policies should be enacted to facilitate the con- August 13,2013,the court also ordered the NRC to use already struction of new nuclear facilities and further the development obligated funds to resume its review of DOE's license,which the of small modular reactors(SMR).APPA also believes that the Commission had stopped in 2010. federal government should allow the public power co-owners of In 2014,NRC staff finished a five volume safety evaluation the two nuclear plants currently under construction in South report and found Yucca Mountain to be a safe location for the Carolina and Georgia to allocate their portions of the pro- long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. However,the reports duction tax credit(from which,as not-for-profit utilities,they recommended against NRC approval of the site until land and derive no direct benefit) to other co-owners. water rights are acquired and a supplement to DOE's environ- mental impact statement(EIS)has been completed.While the NRC has been pressed to use its own funds to complete the EIS, it is unlikely that other necessary actions for approval will be completed without DOE cooperation or congressional action. PublicPower.org 31 213