US Senate panel approves Yucca nuclear waste site
Date: 06-Jun-02
Country: USA
Author: Thomas Ferraro
On a 13-10 vote, the panel sent a resolution to override Nevada's veto of the $58 billion project to the Democratic-led Senate for anticipated final congressional approval within the next two months.
"We will prevail," said Sen. Frank Murkowski of Alaska, the panel's ranking Republican and a chief proponent of plans to build the nation's first permanent nuclear waste repository in Nevada, 90 miles (145 km) northwest of Las Vegas.
A similar resolution passed the Republican-led House of Representatives last month on a bipartisan vote of 306-117.
Congressional approval would clear the way for the U.S. Energy Department to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license the project, scheduled to open in 2010 and hold 70,000 tonnes of radioactive material.
Nuclear power plants produce more than 20 percent of the country's energy and many waste storage tanks are nearly full. The government has faced lawsuits for failing to meet a 1998 deadline to open a permanent nuclear waste storage site.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham hailed the committee's action yesterday as a bipartisan step toward "enhancing our national security and environmental protection."
Abraham said it is now up to the full Senate to decide "whether to leave nuclear waste stranded at 131 sites in 39 states or allow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make the independent determination that Yucca Mountain is suitable to serve as a geological repository."
In a setback for opponents yesterday, Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico joined two other Democrats - Bob Graham of Florida and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana - in voting to override Nevada's veto.
'IT ISN'T OVER YET'
One Republican, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, broke ranks and voted to sustain the veto.
"It's still an uphill battle, but it isn't over yet," said Tessa Hafen, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat leading the charge against the project.
"We actually did better than expected today," said Hafen, noting earlier predictions the committee would back the project by a wider margin.
"They didn't get the overwhelming victory they expected to buy," Hafen said, referring to the money the nuclear power industry has spent lobbying Capitol Hill.
Republicans said they figured Reid was able to use his personal power of persuasion to get a couple of other Democrats to side with him yesterday - at least in the committee.
In addition to Nevada, the project has been opposed by a number of environmental and public interest groups who agree with the state that it would be unsafe.
The Bush administration contends $4 billion in studies over the past two decades have shown Yucca Mountain to be a safe and sound site for a nuclear waste repository
In April, Nevada Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn vetoed Bush's decision to accept Abraham's recommendation to build the repository in Nevada. Guinn has also filed court challenges.
Bingaman, in voting to move ahead with the project, said: "Although the governor raised several serious questions about the geology of Yucca Mountain, the design of the repository, the credibility of DOE's (Energy Department's) computer models and the safety of waste shipments - those questions are best answered by the technical experts at NRC."
"Nothing in the record ... justifies our terminating the program and preventing DOE from applying to the NRC for a license," he said.
Under a 1982 federal law on nuclear waste disposal, a state governor may veto the president's plans to put a depository in his or her state. The veto can be overridden by Congress with a majority vote in each chamber.
