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NUCLEAR INDUSTRY CORPORATE WELFARE UNDER ATTACK
69 HOUSE MEMBERS URGE TERMINATING ADVANCED LIGHT WATER REACTOR
ENERGY AND WATER APPROPRIATIONS SET TO MARKUP BILL NEXT WEEK
In a May 20 letter sent to Energy and Water Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman John Myers (R-IN), 69 House members called
for terminating the Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) program
and providing no additional funding in fiscal year 1997.
Representatives David Obey (D-WI) and Mark Foley (R-FL)
circulated the letter and urged their colleagues to oppose
additional support because "continuing to appropriate funds for
the ALWR program sends the wrong message that this Congress is
willing to overlook subsidies to mature, profitable industries
while asking worthwhile constituencies to sacrifice in order to
balance the budget."
The House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee is
preparing to markup a spending bill towards the end of next
week. Chairman Myers has been a strong supporter of the ALWR
program in the past and is expected to provide additional funds
in fiscal year 1997.
The House Budget resolution, passed last week, also contained
specific language in support of continued funding for the ALWR
program alongside deep cuts in spending on renewable energy
technologies. The budget resolution language was written by
Budget Committee Vice-Chairman Robert Walker (R-PA) who has been
an outspoken advocate for the ALWR program and other federal
subsidies for companies involved with nuclear power development.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IF THEY SIGNED ONTO THE
ENCLOSED LETTER AND THANK THEM FOR THEIR SUPPORT IN CUTTING
CORPORATE WELFARE FOR THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY
The Capitol switchboard can be reached at 202-224-3121.
To receive a factsheet or testimony on the ALWR program, contact
Matthew Freedman (cmep@citizen.org / Phone: 202-546-4996).
---------------------------------------------------------------
May 20, 1996
Chairman John T. Myers
Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee
2362 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-6020
Dear Mr. Chairman:
We are writing to express our strong opposition to
providing new funds for the Department of Energy's (DOE)
Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) program in the fiscal year
1997 Energy and Water Appropriations bill. This program,
created under the Energy Policy Act (EPACT) of 1992, is due to
be completed at the end of fiscal year 1996 and has received
more than $230 million in federal support over the past five
years. While many of us have supported nuclear research and
development in the past, this year's tight budget priorities and
the lack of private sector interest in building new nuclear
reactors make it difficult to understand why DOE wants to expand
the program beyond its original mission.
Already, one of the main recipients of the ALWR program
money, General Electric, has announced that it is canceling its
Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (SBWR) after receiving $50
million from DOE due to concerns that "extensive evaluations of
the market competitiveness of a 600 MWe size Advanced Light
Water Reactor have not established the commercial viability of
these designs." The remaining reactor scheduled to receive ALWR
support, Westinghouse's AP-600, is a similarly sized design and
faces the same market conditions that led GE to cancel the SBWR.
Last year, proponents argued that FY 96 funding was
necessary to complete the fifth year of a five-year program.
This year, DOE outlined plans to request funding for the next
three fiscal years. Extending this program runs in direct
violation of EPACT, which specified that: designs must receive
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certification by the end of
FY 96, no company could receive money for more than four years
and manufacturers are required to certify that they fully intend
to construct these reactors in the United States. The remaining
ALWR design is not due to receive NRC certification until at
least 1998 and has already benefitted from at least four years
of support. Furthermore, the reactor vendors benefitting in
this program have abandoned domestic markets and are focusing
exclusively on exports to Asia. Westinghouse, for example,
identifies China as a prime market for its design despite the
fact that it they are currently prohibited from exporting the
AP-600 to that country.
One troubling aspect of the ALWR program is DOE support for
NRC design certification or generic licensing of advanced
reactors. According to testimony delivered by Westinghouse
before your Subcommittee this year, a significant portion of
DOE's design certification support covers user fees charged by
NRC for the licensing of the AP-600. This is a highly
questionable use of taxpayer dollars. The fact that it benefits
a mature, developed and profitable industry makes it all the
more egregious.
We are not asking you to terminate funding for the ALWR
program as part of an anti-nuclear agenda. The federal
government has spent more than $47 billion (in $1995) on nuclear
fission R&D over the last five decades and Congress has
fulfilled its commitment to support Advanced Light Water
Reactors. If the designs supported by DOE for the past five
years are promising, then the private sector should willingly
invest in their development, deployment and promotion. If not,
then it is inappropriate to provide new taxpayer subsidies to
support products that have no market potential.
This Congress should be serious about cutting unnecessary
corporate welfare. Let's allow the marketplace to determine
whether or not these designs are a sound investment and avoid
having the federal government become the funder of last resort.
Sincerely,
[members organized by state]
Earl F. Hilliard (D-AL) Matt Salmon (R-AZ)
George Miller (D-CA) Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Ronald V. Dellums (D-CA) Pete Stark (D-CA)
Anthony C. Beilenson (D-CA) Henry A. Waxman (D-CA)
Matthew G. Martinez (D-CA) Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
Esteban E. Torres (D-CA) Edward R. Royce (R-CA)
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) David E. Skaggs (D-CO)
Christopher Shays (R-CT) Mark Adam Foley (R-FL)
Harry Johnston (D-FL) John Lewis (D-GA)
Nathan Deal (R-GA) Patsy T. Mink (D-HI)
Greg Ganske (R-IA) Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL)
Sidney R. Yates (D-IL) Lane Evans (D-IL)
Mark E. Souder (R-IN) John N. Hostettler (R-IN)
John W. Olver (D-MA) Richard E. Neal (D-MA)
Barney Frank (D-MA) Martin T. Meehan (D-MA)
Peter G. Torkildsen (R-MA) Edward J. Markey (D-MA)
Joseph P. Kennedy, II (D-MA) Gerry E. Studds (D-MA)
Fred Upton (R-MI) Dick Chrysler (R-MI)
Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) Lynn N. Rivers (D-MI)
John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) David Minge (DFL-MN)
Bruce F. Vento (DFL-MN) Martin Olav Sabo (DFL-MN)
Collin C. Peterson (DFL-MN) James L. Oberstar (DFL-MN)
William L. Clay (D-MO) Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
Donald M. Payne (D-NJ) Dick Zimmer (R-NJ)
Floyd H. Flake (D-NY) Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Major R. Owens (D-NY) Nita M. Lowey (D-NY)
Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY) Steve C. LaTourette (R-OH)
Steve Largent (R-OK) Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Elizabeth Furse (D-OR) Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR)
Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) Marshall (Mark) Sanford (R-SC)
Tim Johnson (D-SD) Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT) Norman D. Dicks (D-WA)
Jim McDermott (D-WA) Scott L. Klug (R-WI)
Gerald D. Kleczka (D-WI) Thomas M. Barrett (D-WI)
David R. Obey (D-WI)
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