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Fwd: Panel OKs Nuke-Waste Storage Plan

In a message dated 6/16/99 11:57:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time, AOL News writes:

<< Panel OKs Nuke-Waste Storage Plan
 
 .c The Associated Press
 
  By H. JOSEF HEBERT
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) - After five years of stalemate, Senate Republicans 
abandoned a congressional push to create an interim nuclear-waste storage 
facility in Nevada and today endorsed a proposal to keep the waste 
temporarily at reactor sites around the country.
 
 The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced a compromise 
proposal offered by Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, that would have the 
government take title to the highly radioactive waste, but not move it to 
Nevada until a construction permit is issued for permanent burial.
 
 The measure passed 14-6 with all 11 Republicans voting for it. It was not 
known when the full Senate will consider the bill. The House has not acted on 
it.
 
 Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the committee, 
opposed the compromise - as did five other Democrats. They said it would 
strip the Environmental Protection Agency of authority to regulate radiation 
exposure levels at the future permanent waste burial site at Yucca Mountain 
in Nevada, if it is ever built.
 
 ``That's a show stopper with the administration and with me,'' said 
Bingaman. A virtually identical alternative measure offered by Bingaman, but 
which would continue to have the EPA regulate exposure levels, was defeated 
13-7.
 
 Nevertheless, the Republican shift to support interim storage of wastes at 
nuclear power plants, pending approval of the Yucca Mountain facility, 
represented a major shift in the long struggle to find a solution for the 
issue.
 
 ``This is a major concession,'' said Murkowski. The permanent Yucca facility 
is not expected to be available until 2010 at the earliest and has not yet 
been given final approval.
 
 Both sides said the issue over the role of the EPA may still be worked out 
when the bill gets to the Senate floor. Murkowski's proposal calls on the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to set radiation exposure standards.
 
 Energy Secretary Bill Richardson floated a proposal in February for the 
government to take title to the highly radioactive waste as long as it 
remained at reactor sites, arguing it was a reasonable compromise since 
President Clinton would veto any legislation calling for temporary storage of 
wastes in Nevada.
 
 The nuclear-waste issue has stymied Congress for five years or more as 
lawmakers seeking to resolve the waste problem at power plants repeatedly 
failed to get enough votes for a central storage facility in Nevada to 
overcome a threatened veto.
 
 ``We've been there and done that,'' said Murkowski, adding that another 
approach was needed.
 
 Murkowski said his proposal mirrors what the administration had proposed 
with only one controversy remaining: whether the NRC or the EPA should have 
set the radiation exposure standards.
 
 The EPA traditionally has pushed for more stringent standards, including a 
groundwater-protection requirement that the nuclear industry claims is 
impossible to meet. ``We need standards that are achievable,'' Murkowski said.
 
 Bingaman, who has conferred with the Energy Department on the issue, said 
the administration likely would veto legislation that ``would strip the EPA 
of authority in this matter.''
 
 An Energy Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the 
removal of the EPA from setting the radiation standard was ``a killer issue'' 
yet to be resolved. Still, this official said, the compromise reflects 
significant progress because the interim-storage idea is being dropped.
 
 The nuclear industry, which has long argued the government has a 
responsibility to build a temporary storage facility and take the wastes off 
utilities' hands, had no immediate comment on the latest proposal.
 
 More than 40,000 tons of highly radioactive waste - generally used reactor 
fuel - has built up at power plants in 34 states while Congress repeatedly 
has failed to enact a law requiring a temporary storage facility in Nevada, 
largely because the White House has threatened to veto the legislation. The 
administration has argued a temporary site would hinder development of a 
permanent burial facility.
 
 AP-NY-06-16-99 1156EDT >>



Panel OKs Nuke-Waste Storage Plan

.c The Associated Press

 By H. JOSEF HEBERT

WASHINGTON (AP) - After five years of stalemate, Senate Republicans abandoned 
a congressional push to create an interim nuclear-waste storage facility in 
Nevada and today endorsed a proposal to keep the waste temporarily at reactor 
sites around the country.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced a compromise 
proposal offered by Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, that would have the 
government take title to the highly radioactive waste, but not move it to 
Nevada until a construction permit is issued for permanent burial.

The measure passed 14-6 with all 11 Republicans voting for it. It was not 
known when the full Senate will consider the bill. The House has not acted on 
it.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the committee, 
opposed the compromise - as did five other Democrats. They said it would 
strip the Environmental Protection Agency of authority to regulate radiation 
exposure levels at the future permanent waste burial site at Yucca Mountain 
in Nevada, if it is ever built.

``That's a show stopper with the administration and with me,'' said Bingaman. 
A virtually identical alternative measure offered by Bingaman, but which 
would continue to have the EPA regulate exposure levels, was defeated 13-7.

Nevertheless, the Republican shift to support interim storage of wastes at 
nuclear power plants, pending approval of the Yucca Mountain facility, 
represented a major shift in the long struggle to find a solution for the 
issue.

``This is a major concession,'' said Murkowski. The permanent Yucca facility 
is not expected to be available until 2010 at the earliest and has not yet 
been given final approval.

Both sides said the issue over the role of the EPA may still be worked out 
when the bill gets to the Senate floor. Murkowski's proposal calls on the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to set radiation exposure standards.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson floated a proposal in February for the 
government to take title to the highly radioactive waste as long as it 
remained at reactor sites, arguing it was a reasonable compromise since 
President Clinton would veto any legislation calling for temporary storage of 
wastes in Nevada.

The nuclear-waste issue has stymied Congress for five years or more as 
lawmakers seeking to resolve the waste problem at power plants repeatedly 
failed to get enough votes for a central storage facility in Nevada to 
overcome a threatened veto.

``We've been there and done that,'' said Murkowski, adding that another 
approach was needed.

Murkowski said his proposal mirrors what the administration had proposed with 
only one controversy remaining: whether the NRC or the EPA should have set 
the radiation exposure standards.

The EPA traditionally has pushed for more stringent standards, including a 
groundwater-protection requirement that the nuclear industry claims is 
impossible to meet. ``We need standards that are achievable,'' Murkowski said.

Bingaman, who has conferred with the Energy Department on the issue, said the 
administration likely would veto legislation that ``would strip the EPA of 
authority in this matter.''

An Energy Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the 
removal of the EPA from setting the radiation standard was ``a killer issue'' 
yet to be resolved. Still, this official said, the compromise reflects 
significant progress because the interim-storage idea is being dropped.

The nuclear industry, which has long argued the government has a 
responsibility to build a temporary storage facility and take the wastes off 
utilities' hands, had no immediate comment on the latest proposal.

More than 40,000 tons of highly radioactive waste - generally used reactor 
fuel - has built up at power plants in 34 states while Congress repeatedly 
has failed to enact a law requiring a temporary storage facility in Nevada, 
largely because the White House has threatened to veto the legislation. The 
administration has argued a temporary site would hinder development of a 
permanent burial facility.

AP-NY-06-16-99 1156EDT

 Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the AP 
news report may not be published,  broadcast, rewritten or otherwise 
distributed without  prior written authority of The Associated Press. 

 

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