I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 433 
To prohibit the Secretary of Energy from planning, developing, or con-
structing a defense waste repository until the Nuclear Regulatory Com-
mission has made a final decision with respect to the construction author-
ization application for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 11, 2017 
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, 
and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To prohibit the Secretary of Energy from planning, devel-
oping, or constructing a defense waste repository until 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made a final 
decision with respect to the construction authorization 
application for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Re-
pository. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sensible Nuclear 
Waste Disposition Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 
10101 et seq.) designated the Yucca Mountain site 
as the sole site to dispose of high-level radioactive 
waste and spent nuclear fuel. 
(2) Pursuant to such Act, in 1985 President 
Ronald Reagan determined that atomic energy de-
fense waste is required to be disposed of in a com-
mon repository with commercial spent nuclear fuel. 
(3) The Secretary of Energy submitted the li-
cense application for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear 
Repository to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
on June 3, 2008. 
(4) The Commission issued the safety evalua-
tion report which found that the Yucca Mountain 
site could meet all regulatory standards for 
1,000,000 years. 
(5) On December 16, 2016, the Department of 
Energy released a draft plan titled ‘‘Draft Plan for 
a Defense Waste Repository’’ stating that the De-
partment of Energy will seek to construct a reposi-
tory to store defense high level nuclear waste. 
(6) The taxpayers of the United States have al-
ready paid more than $3,700,000,000 to dispose of 
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high-level radioactive waste from atomic energy de-
fense activities at the Yucca Mountain site. 
SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT, OR 
CONSTRUCTION OF DEFENSE WASTE REPOSI-
TORY. 
(a) LIMITATION.—The Secretary of Energy may not 
take any action relating to the planning, development, or 
construction of a defense waste repository until the date 
on which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission publishes 
a final decision on an application for a construction au-
thorization for a repository under section 114(d) of the 
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10134(d)). 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The terms ‘‘atomic energy defense activity’’, 
‘‘high-level radioactive waste’’, ‘‘repository’’, and 
‘‘spent nuclear fuel’’ have the meanings given those 
terms in section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act 
of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101). 
(2) The term ‘‘defense waste repository’’ means 
the repository for high-level radioactive waste and 
spent nuclear fuel derived from the atomic energy 
defense activities of the Department of Energy, as 
described in the draft plan of the Department titled 
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‘‘Draft Plan for a Defense Waste Repository’’ pub-
lished on December 16, 2016. 
Æ 
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