Congressional compromise keeps nuclear waste out of Nevada Test Site

Kiley Russell

Wednesday, June 16, 1999 | 10:09 a.m.

A measure that kills the plan to temporarily store nuclear waste at the Nevada Test Site is seen as half a victory by Nevada lawmakers.

"Interim waste storage was the greatest threat facing Nevada in the short term and now it has been taken off the table once and for all," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday.

Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, wrote the compromise proposal that stipulates waste be kept at the reactor sites that produced it until a permanent storage facility is up and running. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the legislation Wednesday by a 14-6 vote.

Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied as a permanent storage facility.

This turn of events ends a five-year political log jam about how to handle spent fuel from commercial reactors.

Murkowski and fellow Republicans backed away from their insistence that waste be shipped to the test site for temporary storage in exchange for allowing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - rather than the Environmental Protection Agency - to set radiation exposure standards for Yucca Mountain.

While Nevada lawmakers seem happy with the new plan, there is still some concern that the NRC will develop less vigorous standards than the EPA.

"The bill that was reported out of committee this morning is an incredible victory for Nevada. The industry backers have thrown in the towel on temporary storage," said Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.

But he added that it also "weakens the public health and safety standards."

"The NRC this past year has tried to undermine those EPA standards and propose weaker standards. They are industry supported and they are bowing to the request of industry," he said.

Bryan said he will work to put EPA authority back into the bill as it makes its way through Congress.

Reid said removing the EPA from its role at Yucca Mountain is unacceptable.

"The EPA has a proven track record of protecting the environment and the health of our citizens," he said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., called the legislation a "veiled attempt to sacrifice the battle to win the war."

"It's apparent to me that (Murkowski) didn't think he had enough votes to stick the nuclear dump in Nevada's back yard."