Courtney Statement on Restart of Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation

WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) released the following statement after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it would direct staff to restart work on the safety evaluation report for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site. In September, Congressman Courtney, along with a bipartisan coalition of 80 House members sent a letter to NRC Chair Alison Macfarlane urging the agency to resume work on the safety evaluation report.

“A national strategy for dealing with spent nuclear fuel is crucial to the safety of our citizens and our domestic energy production,” Courtney said. “In Connecticut and across the country, retired and active sites are storing their own spent fuel at considerable cost to ratepayers. As a nation, we must move beyond this piecemeal storage strategy towards a state-of-the-art central repository. I am pleased that NRC has decided to resume its safety evaluation, which I am confident will show that Yucca Mountain is well-suited to the task of safely and permanently storing our nation’s nuclear waste.”

Since his arrival in Congress in 2007, Courtney has worked to make removal of spent fuel from decommissioned and active sites—including the Connecticut Yankee plant in Haddam—a top priority for the NRC. He has also been a supporter of the development of Yucca Mountain, urging the Obama Administration not to abandon plans to create the repository.