Senate Targets Nevada Nuclear Waste

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Senate Targets Nevada Nuclear Waste

WASHINGTON (AP) Feb 10 - The Senate voted today to require that 
nuclear waste be shipped from power plants around the country to a 
site in Nevada as early as 2007 once a permanent burial site in 
Nevada is licensed. 

But the measure, which has yet to be considered by the House, faces a 
certain veto by President Clinton and even the bill's chief sponsor 
said he doubts a veto can be overcome. 

The Senate passed the bill 64-34, short of the 67 votes needed to 
override a veto if all senators vote. Only two Republicans - Sens. 
Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode 
Island - voted against the measure. 

``This bill is dead until we get a new administration,'' said a 
disappointed Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, who repeatedly has 
sought to enact nuclear waste legislation. He said he doubted any of 
the senators would switch their votes. 

Congress has struggled for six years over what to do with the more 
than 40,000 tons of highly radioactive used reactor fuel that now 
sits at commercial power plants in 31 states. 

Proponents of the bill said the issue has been debated too long and 
that the highly radioactive waste would be safer kept at a central 
location instead of at sites across the country. The government long 
ago promised the nuclear industry it would deal with the waste 
problem, they said. 

But the White House and other opponents have argued that directing 
the wastes to be shipped to Nevada could undermine efforts to develop 
a permanent burial site there. They also maintained the legislation 
would hinder the Environmental Protection Agency from developing 
radiation exposure limits for any such future permanent repository. 

The permanent facility being proposed for Yucca Mountain 90 miles 
from Las Vegas is still under scientific review, but is scheduled to 
be opened in 2010 if it is found to be technically suitable and gets 
a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

``Nobody wants the waste (but) ... if you throw it up into the air, 
it's got to come down somewhere,'' said Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-
Alaska, chief sponsor of the legislation. He said the government has 
an obligation to deal with the waste problem and has reneged on 
contracts with the utility companies to take the waste. 

But Murkowski abandoned a provision that would have required the 
Energy Department to assume title of the waste at the power plants. 
At last a half-dozen governors had raised concern about the title 
transfer, fearing it would lead the waste from being in their states 
permanently. 

``Our main objection (to the bill) is the diminution of authority for 
the Environmental Protection Agency'' in setting radiation standards, 
said Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. 

Under the legislation, the EPA would have to consult with the NRC and 
the National Academy of Sciences if it wants to issue the standards 
before June 1, 2001. The NRC has suggested less-stringent standards 
than the EPA is considering for the future Yucca Mountain site. 

Murkowski rejected criticism that the EPA's role was being 
diminished. ``The EPA has the final authority on determining 
radiation standards,'' he declared. ``The effort is to get the best 
science.'' 

The bill was passed despite the strong opposition from Nevada's two 
senators - Democrats Harry Reid and Richard Bryan - who for more than 
six years have fought repeated attempts for Congress to take action 
on the waste issue. 

The state also is fighting development of the permanent Yucca waste 
repository on the edge of the Nevada Test Site. 

Murkowski has argued that the Nevada site, a few miles from where 
hundreds of nuclear bomb tests were conducted during the Cold War 
years, is a logical place to bury the reactor waste, which will 
remain highly radioactive for as long as 10,000 years. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
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