WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today in a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) questioned U.S. leaders and experts in the nuclear energy field about the lack of conversation around nuclear waste management solutions. Senator King reiterated his support of using nuclear as a type of carbon-free power, but highlighted the United States’ more than 70 year waste build-up as fundamental problem which needs to be addressed. 

“Has the word ‘waste’ been mentioned in this conversation? I don’t think it has,” said Senator King. “I just met with a group of young people. They’re all for carbon-free energy, they’re excited, but they’re not excited about paying the price of our using electricity and leaving to them what to do with the waste. We haven’t met a 70-year promise in this country yet on nuclear waste… I’m not opposed to the technology of nuclear power. I’m definitely in favor of carbon-free power, I think it can be an enormous boon to our economy and to our climate, but I just don’t know how we have this discussion and not talk about this really significant problem that isn’t being addressed. And, I’m tired of passing burdens onto our children. I don’t think that’s what we’re sent here to do.

“You’re talking about future technologies and proposed projects. We’re talking about a bill here to promote nuclear power without having solved that problem. I think we’ve got it backwards: let’s solve the waste problem and then talk about promoting nuclear power,” Senator King continued. “…And this government has been promising the American people that they’re going to solve this problem, and they haven’t.”

A forceful advocate for clean energy, Senator King frequently discusses the goals and challenges to solutions to climate change, and on Earth Day wrote a column outlining strategies to combat the serious threats posed by climate change. Earlier this month, he listed nuclear energy as a viable, cleaner solution but urged that there needed to be more research and development to the most efficient way to take care of nuclear waste. Senator King is the lead sponsor on clean and efficient energy bills such as the Next Generation Grid Resources and Infrastructure Development (GRID) Act that would encourage energy independence, foster innovation, and leverage federal resources to support a more resilient and modern electric grid through the use of distributed and clean energy resources.  He is also the lead sponsor of the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Support Act, legislation that would support businesses investing in energy efficiency technology, help diversify energy options for rural industries, and maximize use of Maine’s natural resources. Senator King introduced this bill in November 2017, after holding an ENR Committee field hearing at Robbins Lumber in Searsmont to identify opportunities to use new energy efficient technologies to sustain and strengthen rural industries. Senator King is also the lead sponsor for the Biomass Thermal Utilization (BTU) Act, a bipartisan bill that would incentivize the use of energy efficiency biomass heaters in homes and businesses instead of relying on fossil fuel energy. He has also cosponsored the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act, bipartisan legislation which would establish an investment tax credit (ITC) for business and home use of energy storage.

Witnesses at today’s ENR hearing included: Dr. Mark Peters, Laboratory Director at the Idaho National Laboratory; Dr. Ashley E. Finan, Executive Director at Nuclear Innovation Alliance; Ms. Maria Korsnick, President and Chief Executive Officer at Nuclear Energy Institute; Mr. Mark McManus, General President at the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, AFL-CIO; and, the Honorable Jeffrey S. Merrifield, Former Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and current Partner and Energy Section Leader at Pillsbury Law Firm.