Nuke storage bill debated despite threat of veto

Mark D. Preston

Wednesday, April 21, 1999 | 11:30 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The threat of a presidential veto did not stop the House Commerce Committee today from debating a bill that would create a temporary nuclear waste storage site in Nevada.

The committee, which is expected to pass the legislation and move it to the House floor for a full vote, was ironing out the bill's details this afternoon.

Many members of the committee expressed concern about parts of the bill, but said they would support it and hope to change it when it reaches the House floor.

Congressmen from Florida and Georgia, which have nuclear power plants, complained that the bill does not force the Department of Energy to meet deadlines and gives the DOE too much flexibility.

The legislation, which overwhelmingly passed a House subcommittee last week, calls for waste from 72 nuclear power plants in the U.S. to be shipped to the Nevada Test Site for temporary storage until the Energy Department determines whether Yucca Mountain -- 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas -- is a suitable permanent repository. If Yucca is chosen as a permanent storage facility, it would begin accepting waste no sooner than 2010.

It would also allow the DOE to assume on-site responsibility for high-level nuclear waste at the power plants.