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Jan. 25, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Republicans sponsor Yucca rescue measure

Bill already dead, Reid promises

By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
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WASHINGTON -- Seven Republican senators announced a bill Thursday to revive the crippled Yucca Mountain Project. Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada declared it dead on arrival.

"It is going nowhere," Reid said of the measure introduced by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. As majority leader, Reid has had the last word on nuclear waste bills.

Inhofe said his bill aims to move the stalled project forward. Managers are trying to rework the program, already years behind schedule, in the face of budget cuts and personnel layoffs.

"I've visited the site," Inhofe said. "I have a question for those who want to abandon Yucca Mountain: If you can't build a repository in the middle of a mountain in the middle of a desert, where should it be?"


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    • The bill alters the government's strategy for storing highly radioactive nuclear waste at the Yucca site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

    The bill allows the Department of Energy to build an underground repository and store waste there after proving to regulators it could be operated safely for 300 years. Every 50 years during that period, DOE would seek license amendments to incorporate new research and technology.

    At 300 years, the government would be required to show whether the repository could meet radiation standards to ensure the waste can remain shielded for as long as 1 million years. If so, the repository would be sealed.

    Current law requires DOE to show up front whether Yucca Mountain can prevent radioactive materials from leaking and poisoning residents over the longest periods of time.

    Energy Department officials said they were reviewing the bill.

    Bob Loux, director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, said the bill is based on a "phased licensing" idea that has been floated before but rejected by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    "This appears to be more of a political document than a serious piece of legislation," Loux said.

    Nevadans have said that the Yucca site is not suitable and that nuclear waste should remain stored at power plants until another solution is found.

    The sponsors "are trying to fast-forward a project that should be stopped," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

    Besides Inhofe, sponsors included Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Kit Bond, R-Mo.; Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, both R-Idaho; and Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

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    Klondike wrote on January 28, 2008 01:33 PM: Roger: You say "The science was always flawed." Can you prove that? Are you a scientist? Is Harry Reid?

    The only entity whose opinion matters on the subject is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.


    Roger wrote on January 25, 2008 09:52 PM: Yucca is a dinosaur. The science was always flawed. It was planned years ago for a place they assumed nobody cared about. It is now more populated and impractical to ship it all the way to Nevada. It is more of a terrorist issue to ship it here than leave it where it is. A stupid idea that could only be supported by uneducated, pig headed people...


    Jim R wrote on January 25, 2008 03:54 PM: What "Nevadans have said..." is really irrelevant. The Yucca Mountain Project is a matter of Law and the ONLY entity empowered to judge the suitability of the site for construction and eventual receipt of nuclear waste is the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The site will be safe people; otherwise, the NRC will not issue the facility a License to begin construction.

    Leave politics out of it and let the expert scientists and engineers on the Yucca Mountain Project put together a License Application that presents its safety case and then let the expert scientists and engineers that work for the NRC make their Licensing decisions.

    Get the facts people and make an informed choice; not just an ignorant guess based on the talking heads that simply want your vote!


    what wrote on January 25, 2008 10:49 AM: alexis wake up,most people are against yucca mtn.what are you talking about..


    Richard N. Davis wrote on January 25, 2008 09:07 AM: As a former Nevada resident for 27 years and a Nevada Test Site worker for 22 years, I read with interest the Republicans bill to save the Yucca Mountain project (R.J. 01/25/08).

    When are the residents of Nevada going to wake up. Senator Reid, and the rest of the politicians that only worry about getting re-elected, are responsible for Nevada loosing millions of dollars that is sorely needed. Where better to store the waste than at the Yucca Mt. repository? The federal government promised the nuclear industry years ago that if they built power generating plants there would be a place to store the waste.

    There is more highly dangerous,non-radioactive chemicals/compounds going through Las Vegas on I-15 and the railroad, on a daily basis, than would ever be stored a Yucca Mt.


    Alexis wrote on January 25, 2008 09:01 AM: I take issue with the statement "Nevadans have said that the Yucca site is not suitable..." Contrary to the media coverage, most Nevadans I've spoken to do NOT oppose Yucca Mountain. It's just the liberal fringe or the weak politicians who are building a career on destroying the only solution to a national problem that have a problem with the issue.


    Jim R wrote on January 25, 2008 08:25 AM: Reid and the Dems from Nevada need to go!!! So do the rest of the so-called Republican politicians from Nevada that are too afraid of losing their precious positions to do the right thing for the energy future and security of our country.


    Oopps wrote on January 25, 2008 08:16 AM: Inhofe is from Oklahoma-lot of open space there;
    Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn- lot of open space in Tennesse and matter of fact it's where they make a bunch of the waste!;
    John Barrasso, R-Wyo; Plenty of wide open space in Wyoming-could use old coal mines to stre the stuff;
    Kit Bond, R-Mo; Lots of unused land in Missouri, like Branson
    Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, both R-Idaho; He wants a toilet stall, too. Idaho is a big maker of nuke waste; you make it, you keep it.
    Jim DeMint, R-S.C; Been to Western SC? Lots of little mountains to bury junk in!


    Craig wrote on January 25, 2008 05:58 AM: How about putting it in Midland Texas?


    Art Caprario wrote on January 25, 2008 05:50 AM: All those opposing Yucca Mt. should be ashamed of themselves. Promotion and use
    of nuclear power is a national security and economic issue. We will continue to remain dependent on OPEC and have to send our sons and our daughters to the middle east because we will continue to be held hostage to oil. If Yucca Mt. represents a danger what do 100 nuclear plants with on-site nuclear waste storage represent?


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