SJM 8007

This bill is a joint memorial from the Washington State Legislature urging Congress and the U.S. Secretary of Energy to implement recommendations from a 2021 Government Accountability Office study regarding the management of commercial spent nuclear fuel. The memorial specifically requests federal action on four key recommendations: authorizing a new consent-based process for siting nuclear storage and disposal facilities, creating an independent board to oversee spent nuclear fuel management, restructuring the Nuclear Waste Fund to reflect actual program costs, and developing an integrated waste management strategy. The memorial highlights the federal government's decades-long failure to establish a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel, which has left radioactive waste stored at reactor sites and resulted in ongoing taxpayer liability payments to nuclear facility owners.