Nuke Plant spent fuel disposal facility delayed

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

The simple answer to the DOE's question is to "stop" the politics, 
complete the facilities, implement known and well-understood 
technology, and GET ON WITH IT!
-------------------------
  WASHINGTON  - The Energy Department Tuesday  
officially told electric utilities that it will not be able to 
start accepting spent fuel from their nuclear power reactors on 
Jan. 31, 1998, as scheduled. 
  The department asked the utilities for suggestions on how  
best to deal with spent nuclear fuel accumulating at reactors 
around the country. 
  ``The department understands many generators and owners will  
be affected by this delay and our uncertainty as to when we will be
able to accept the spent fuel,'' Daniel Dreyfus, the department's
director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said
in a statement. 
  ``We plan to work with the contract holders to determine how  
to best address this delay,'' Dreyfus said. 
  The department was reacting to a federal court decision that  
the government must start disposing of nuclear waste from 
commercial reactors starting in 1998 to comply with the Nuclear 
Waste Policy Act of 1982. 
  The department decided not to appeal the decision by the  
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, but it does 
not have a site ready to store the fuel, which will be dangerous for
thousands of years. 
  The Clinton administration has resisted planning a temporary  
storage site, saying that might divert resources from building a
permanent dump which it does not expect to have ready until 2010. 
  The only site under consideration for the permanent dump is  
Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a proposal the state of Nevada 
heatedly opposes. 
  President Clinton's veto threat helped to kill a Senate bill  
last session that would have put a temporary storage site at 
Yucca as well. 
  ``This underscores the need for Congress to pass legislation  
that authorizes the development of a federal central storage 
facility as soon as possible so that the federal government can 
begin fulfilling its obligation to consumers,'' Joe Colvin, 
president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said in a statement. 
  The NEI represents the nuclear power industry.  
  Colvin said consumers have committed about $13 billion since  
1983 through their rates to finance the disposal program, ``yet 
the DOE (Department of Energy) says it will be unable to begin 
accepting fuel at a repository until 2010.'' 
  The NEI says 9 nuclear plants have run out of space in pools  
for spent fuel and have begun relying on above-ground storage. 

Sandy Perle
Director, Technical Operations
ICN Dosimetry Division
Office: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2306 
Fax: (714) 668-3149

E-Mail: sandyfl@ix.netcom.com    

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