Clinton vetoes bill on nuclear waste disposal site

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

Clinton vetoes bill on nuclear waste disposal site

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton vetoed on Tuesday a 
bill to build a Nevada storage site for hazardous nuclear waste from 
U.S. commercial power plants, probably killing the proposal for the 
year. 

The plan to construct a waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 
Nevada, for use as early as 2007 was designed to solve the 
problem of how to dispose of 400,000 tonnes of spent fuel from 80 
reactors in 40 states, much of it held at sites not intended for long-
term storage. 

The nuclear industry had backed the legislation, while 
environmentalists believe that Yucca Mountain is unsafe and the 
measure would mean trucks and trains would be hauling nuclear 
waste past the homes and workplaces of 50 million Americans. 

``It is critical that we develop the capability to permanently dispose 
of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, and I believe 
we are on a path to do that,'' Clinton said in a veto statement. 
``Unfortunately, the bill passed by the Congress does not advance 
these basic goals.'' 

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said he was 
disappointed by the veto. 

``Utility rate-payers have paid more than $14 billion over the years 
for a safe and sound single storage site, and President Clinton is 
now standing in the way of it becoming reality,'' Hastert said. 

``By today's action, the president is clearly choosing partisan 
politics over environmental enrichment, safety and progress.'' 

Clinton objected to several portions of the bill. 

NO SCIENTIFIC BENEFIT SEEN 

He said the bill would do nothing to advance the scientific program 
at Yucca Mountain or promote public confidence in the outcome of 
a decision on whether to recommend the site for a repository in 
2001. 

``Instead, this bill could be a step backward in both respects,'' he 
said. 

It would limit the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to 
issue radiation standards that protect human health and the 
environment, and it would block the agency from issuing its final 
standards until June 2001, rather than letting it decide this 
summer, Clinton said. 

And the bill does little to minimize the potential for continued 
claims against the federal government for damages as a result of 
the delay in accepting spent fuel from utilities, Clinton added. 

The Senate vote to pass the bill was three votes short of a veto-
proof majority, and lawmakers have said a veto would mean the 
issue probably would not be resolved until after the November 
election. 

The nuclear industry criticized Clinton for the veto. 

Joe Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington 
lobby group, said the president had ``missed a tremendous 
opportunity to maximize the benefits that emission-free nuclear 
energy provides to U.S. society, the environment and the 
economy.'' 

But environmentalists were pleased. 

Amy Shollenberger, senior policy analyst for Public Citizen's 
Critical Mass Energy Project, said the legislation would have 
allowed for ``temporary storage of nuclear waste as early as 2006 -- 
launching the largest nuclear waste shipping campaign in the 
history of the world.'' 

``This industry promised us energy that was too cheap to meter, 
but instead it has produced a mountain of waste that is too 
expensive to clean up. ... We must insist that the nuclear industry 
take responsibility for the legacy of toxic garbage that it has 
produced,'' she said. 
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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
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