CLINTON, CONGRESS WRANGLE OVER NUCLEAR WASTE
Date: 24-May-99
Country: USA
Congress and the Clinton Administration are at odds over what to do with spent nuclear fuel piling up at more than 70 of the nation's 103 working nuclear power plants.
Currently, 30,000 tonnes of waste is stored at individual reactors around the nation, and that amount is expected to more than double in the coming years.
President Clinton has vowed to veto pending legislation that would create a temporary storage site, but nuclear utilities and many lawmakers want the waste removed as soon as possible, saying the DOE has broken the law by not removing it.
Clinton first wants to settle whether a proposed permanent waste site in Yucca Mountain, Nevada is possible.
"The administration remains opposed to interim storage in Nevada and is committed to completing the science at Yucca Mountain before any decision is made to move spent fuel to a temporary location," said a DOE spokesman.
A Senate panel on Wednesday delayed action on a plan to build storage sites, saying it would take two more weeks to try and reach a deal agreeable to both the administration and the nuclear power industry.
A compromise under discussion in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee would have DOE take title to the waste and build temporary storage at power plants. That would create dozens of interim sites until Yucca Mountain is ready.
"We continue to discuss the proposal to take title to spent nuclear fuel at commercial nuclear power plant sites as a near-term solution to address the DOE's contractual obligation to the utilities," the DOE spokesman said.
Last month the House Commerce Committee passed legislation to build temporary and permanent repositories. The bill, which has has not yet been sent to the floor for a final vote, would have DOE start receiving waste at a temporary site in the Nevada Test Range in 2003, and at Yucca Mountain in 2010.
Energy Bill Richardson said last year that Yucca Mountain was a "promising" site for the nation's permanent waste dump.
DOE also said uncertainties remained about key natural processes in the Yucca Mountain region, and over preliminary design plans. The agency said environmental impact assessments would be conducted in the next two years before the final recommendation in 2001.
Environmentalists and a number of Nevada officials are concerned about the safety of Yucca Mountain, citing fears about trucking and train routes to deliver the waste, and the fact the city of Las Vegas is only 90 miles from the site.
