Vote likely next week on bill to resume Yucca Mountain licensing process

Legislation to allow the Department of Energy to resume its license application process to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain could see a House vote as early as next week . A bill approved last year by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to jump-start the licensing process is being reviewed and the legislation could move to the floor next week. The legislation would streamline the process to open Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste and address the stockpile of spent fuel being stored at power plants across the country. “We owe it to the 121 communities across 39 states, as well as to every American taxpayer forced to shoulder the daily $2.2 million burden of inaction, to get this done,” said Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and John Shimkus, R-Ill., in a joint statement.