DOE’s Wright Says He’ll Work With Congress on Nuclear Waste Law

The Department of Energy will likely work with Congress to revise federal statute stipulating where nuclear waste should be stored in the long run, Secretary Chris Wright told lawmakers Thursday.

“I think it’s likely” that there will “be a necessary engagement on the statutory laws regarding long-term waste disposal,” Wright said at a hearing before the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy.

The law in question is the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which currently stipulates that Yucca Mountain in Nevada should be primarily considered for permanently storing spent nuclear fuel. That project was essentially sidelined more than a ...