[ RadSafe ] And so the NIMBY posturing begins ...

[Jim Hardeman]

URL = http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/050601nuclear.shtml

Jim Hardeman
Jim_Hardeman at dnr.state.ga.us

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Lawmakers deny 'crazy' nuclear waste dump rumor 

By JEN FISH , Portland Press Herald Writer 
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. 

  
Members of Maine's congressional delegation said Tuesday there is no chance that the state's military bases, if closed, could become nuclear waste repositories. 
That possibility began circulating several days ago after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending bill for energy and water development. Tucked in the bill is $15.5 million in funding for reprocessing nuclear waste from power plants and building an interim nuclear waste dump. 
The actual bill does not specify where the temporary dump would be, but a report attached to the bill suggests the Department of Energy investigate other federally owned sites, including closed military bases.
Maine officials, who are in the midst of fighting against the closure of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the realignment of the Brunswick Air Naval Station, called any future plans for the bases premature and added that the mere suggestion of a nuclear waste facility at either location was ridiculous at best.
Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, called the provision "crazy" and stated emphatically that there would be no such site in Maine.
"This is an outrageous suggestion," Allen said Tuesday. "First of all, no bases have been closed yet. I think more likely than not, this is coming from members of Congress who haven't been able to solve the Yucca Mountain issue yet."
The federal government has chosen Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a central, permanent nuclear waste repository. But various legal challenges and other problems have delayed the opening of Yucca Mountain until at least 2010. 
In the meantime, the government has stored its nuclear waste at 129 different interim sites scattered around the country. But a spokesman for the Department of Energy said Yucca Mountain remains the "right policy for America."
"The department is currently reviewing the proposal," said Mike Waldron of the Department of Energy. "However, we remain committed to the opening of the Yucca Mountain repository in the Nevada desert where spent nuclear fuel can be permanently, safely stored away from population centers or other sensitive environmental areas."
Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said the senator would never allow the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to be converted into a repository for nuclear waste.
"The possibility of having a nuclear waste repository there is reprehensible," Ferrier said. "Sen. Snowe would ensure that no such language is included in the Senate version of the bill."
Ferrier went on to say that the shipyard - which is located on Seavey Island at the mouth of the Piscataqua River - would be "completely ill-suited to house nuclear waste."
Her sentiments were echoed by representatives of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who said the senator would vigorously oppose any efforts to put a nuclear waste facility in Maine.