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State Representative Joe Atkins
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4192
For more information contact: Matt Swenson 651-297-8406
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LEGISLATION SAYS NO MORE MONEY FOR YUCCA MOUNTAIN
ST. PAUL, MN - Right now in America, approximately 55 tons of spent nuclear waste is sitting idle in temporary storage facilities in 34 different states. The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Storage Facility in Nevada was supposed to be completed January 31, 1998. More than a decade later, Yucca Mountain is still just an empty cave. Ratepayers in Minnesota and 33 other nuclear power states have doled-out hundreds of millions of dollars for the Yucca Mountain Facility since the early ‘80s - funds currently gathering dust, and interest, in a Washington D.C. bank account. Rep. Joe Atkins has introduced legislation to withhold Minnesota’s payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund until Yucca Mountain is completed and starts accepting nuclear waste.
“Minnesotans have been forced to make 26 years worth of payments and have nothing to show for it," said Rep. Atkins. “It’s like making 26 years worth of car payments and never getting the car.”
As of the 3rd quarter of 2008, Minnesotans have paid $375.9 million to the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) - a fund dedicated to the construction and maintenance of a long-term nuclear storage facility at Yucca Mountain. The NWF has generated $283 million in interest on that $375.9 million since Minnesota began payments in 1982, bringing the state’s contribution to a grand total of $659 million. Xcel Energy ratepayers in Minnesota continue to pay $13 million every year to the NWF through a 0.001 cent surcharge per kilowatt hour generated from nuclear power. Xcel ratepayers are charged this fee because Xcel is the only Minnesota utility company operating nuclear power facilities in the state.
“Minnesota is one of 34 states that have paid over $16 billion to the Nuclear Waste Fund,” said Atkins. “With interest, the NWF is worth $31 billion, and growing. $31 billion sitting in a bank account with 55,000 tons of nuclear waste sitting in hundreds of dry cask facilities across the country isn’t making anyone safer. $31 billion is enough to put Yucca Mountain online as soon as the federal government begins accepting nuclear waste.”
Several utility companies, including Xcel, have already made attempts to get that money back. Filing claims against the United States Department of Energy (DOE) in the US Court of Federal Claims, Xcel and other utilities have won their complaints after DOE failed to begin removal of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors by January 31, 1998 - the deadline established by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Xcel won such a judgment in 2007 for $116 million. DOE has paid nothing.
“Xcel Energy has 1.2 million electricity customers in Minnesota,” said Atkins. “With interest, the amount paid to the Nuclear Waste Fund by Minnesotans thus far represents over $549 per person. Minnesotans have already paid their dues for a nonexistent service that was supposed to keep them safe. Enough is enough.”
Rep. Atkins is encouraging lawmakers from other nuclear states to consider introducing similar legislation in an effort to pressure the federal government into action. Atkins has also proposed to have the National Conference of State Legislatures take a supportive position. If passed, Atkins’ bill would stop payment from Minnesota to the Nuclear Waste Fund. The bill has been introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives and is working its way through the legislative process.
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- Rep. Atkins – Statement on Deal to End NHL Lockout - (Posted: Jan 7 2013 2:05PM)
- Rep. Atkins to Hold Minnesota House Hearing on Economic Impact of Hockey Lockout - (Posted: Jan 2 2013 3:20PM)
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