Why It Matters

Congress is currently dealing with a long-standing deadlock regarding the proper place to permanently dispose of the United States' nuclear waste as the Trump administration promotes a new strategy which focuses on states that are willing to host nuclear fuel-cycle facilities and aims to alter the federal law which had designated Yucca Mountain as the country's repository site.

During a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on September 23, lawmakers looked into the administration's Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus (NLIC) plan, which calls for carrying out nuclear fuel-cycle activities at sites in five of the states that had been selected as finalists. The most pointed moment of the hearing occurred when Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) charged the administration with firing members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board and with weakening the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the witness Lake Barrett stated that he had been personally dismissed on the first full day of the Trump administration.

The Big Picture

The proximate trigger for the hearing was a July Politico report on a leaked White House document circulating on Capitol Hill that called for moving beyond Yucca Mountain as the nation's designated repository and instead partnering with willing states to host waste facilities. On July 28, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced five potential host states, Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Idaho, from 28 applications submitted by 26 states.

The administration has framed the campuses as economic engines. DOE says a single campus could attract up to $50 billion in capital investment, generate as much as $10 billion in state and local tax revenue, and create nearly 25,000 jobs. Congressional Research Service data shows federal payments resulting from nuclear waste litigation had reached approximately $10.6 billion as of Sept. 30, 2023, a cost stemming from the federal government's failure to begin accepting spent nuclear fuel as required under its contracts with nuclear utilities. Prior congressional action includes a 2019 Senate hearing on the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act and a 2017 House hearing on the same legislation.

What They're Saying

Lake Barrett, Chair, American Nuclear Society Nuclear Waste Policy Task Force, opened with a stark assessment, saying, "We in America have sadly fallen well behind and have accomplished little for the past 16 years."

Markey fired back at the administration's record, saying, "This administration has fired members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board ... It has infiltrated and undermined the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

Kathryn Huff, who holds a Ph.D. and is both a professor and head of the department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, warned that "we shall necessarily make the same mistakes again if there is no radical transparency and public consent". Katrina McMurrian, executive director of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC), said to the committee that "the consequences of the federal government's continued failure to achieve disposal are serious, but could be avoided by taking timely action".

Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) expressed frustration with decades of inaction, saying, "It is stunning to me how slow this place operates." Sen. John R. Curtis (R-UT) pressed witnesses on whether Utah could be left "holding the bag" without adequate federal guarantees.

Political Stakes

Barrett's dismissal on the first full day of the Trump administration raised a clear accountability issue during the hearing. Senator Angela D. Alsobrooks (D-MD), who held the position of ranking member, said, "The legitimacy of any nuclear waste policy and that of America's entire nuclear industry depend on the NRC being independent."

Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Yucca Mountain remains the site designated in federal law for a permanent repository, placing the administration's proposed shift toward willing host states in tension with the existing statutory framework. Chair Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) described the existing framework as having "failed to achieve its goals" and identified three legislative priorities: clarifying waste forms and regulatory frameworks, ensuring host-state confidence, and addressing sustainable funding.

The Bottom Line

No legislation was directly tied to the hearing record at the time of its completion, but the administration has circulated "legislative principles" on Capitol Hill proposing changes to federal nuclear waste law, signaling that congressional action would be necessary to implement major elements of its new strategy. The EPW Committee hearing record is available on Legis1.

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