NEI indicates that nuclear energy programs would receive 936 million dollars in fiscal 2016 under a 35 billion dollar energy- and water-spending bill approved today by the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. This is an increase of 22.5 million dollars (or 2.5 percent) from the current fiscal year budget and an increase of 28.5 million dollars (or 3.1 percent) from the administration request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Acting to impose greater spending and process discipline on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the appropriations panel reduced the agency budget by 25 million dollars (or by 2.5 percent) as a step toward implementing recommendations the NRC made only weeks ago to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. The NRC Project Aim 2020 report, unveiled in mid-February, projected a 10 per cent reduction in the size of the agency by the end of the decade.
The committee again rejected the President Obama proposal to impose an incredible 10-year, 2 billion dollar tax on the nuclear energy industry for the decontamination and decommissioning of uranium enrichment facilities that the U.S. Department of Energy (not the nuclear industry) operated in three states during the Cold War. Beyond paying toward cleanup activities at the sites as part of the cost of enriched uranium purchased from the government for reactor fuel, the industry additionally paid 2.6 billion dollars in taxes for this effort from 1993 to 2008 and has received no benefit. House appropriators also budgeted 175 million - 150 million dollars to DOE and 25 million dollars to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue licensing activities for the used nuclear fuel repository planned for Yucca Mountain, Nev. The administration requested only 27 million dollars as part of its efforts to terminate the congressionally authorized Yucca Mountain project.
Original URL: https://www.nei.org/News-Media/Media-Room/News-Releases/NEI-Pleased-by-House-Appropriators-Strong-Support
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