Vote opposes Test Site nuke storage

Wednesday, June 16, 1999 | 11:36 a.m.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee abandoned temporary nuclear waste storage at the Nevada Test Site today, opting to keep it piled at reactor sites in 34 states.

The 14-6 vote would allow nuclear waste to arrive at the proposed permanent repository at Yucca Mountain by 2007.

In a surprise turn, Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, proposed keeping 40,000 tons of highly radioactive waste at reactor sites until the government finishes studies on Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the only site under study as a permanent repository. Murkowski has been the chief architect of Senate attempts to pass temporary nuclear waste storage for five years.

Nevada Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid, both Democrats, said they were surprised at the move, and Bryan declared it "a real victory for Nevada." Murkowski's move showed the Republicans did not have the votes to override a veto threatened by President Clinton on any temporary storage proposal, he said.

But while Murkowski, chairman of the Senate committee, appeared willing to give up the fight on temporary storage, he used the bill to put conditions on the proposed permanent repository at Yucca Mountain that favor the nuclear industry.

Instead of the Environmental Protection Agency setting radiation standards, the senator asked that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission take responsibility. The NRC has proposed a safety standard of 25 millirems to a person's body, equal to a single chest X-ray. The EPA was proposing a 15 millirem limit.

The EPA also plans to set a ground water standard for the repository. Department of Energy scientists have said Yucca Mountain cannot meet a ground water limit.

However, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the committee's ranking minority member, said he opposed Murkowski's proposal and offered a measure that would leave responsibility for setting radiation limits with the EPA. It was defeated by a 13-7 vote.

Bryan and Reid said they would fight the radiation issue when the bill comes to the Senate floor. It must pass the full Senate and then be approved by the House before going to the president.

In addition, Murkowski added a provision that would allow the nuclear waste to begin arriving at Yucca Mountain as early as 2007. Current law requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to grant an operating license to open Yucca Mountain by 2010. Murkowski's measure would allow shipping the wastes to the site after the panel approves a construction permit.

Yet Murkowski's measure allows no enforcement penalties if the Department of Energy fails to meet the deadline, Bryan noted. "These are milestones; at best they can only be considered guideposts," he said. The DOE does have to report its progress to Congress, however.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson proposed in February that the government accept responsibility for the waste at nuclear plants around the country, keeping it there until scientific studies are completed on Yucca Mountain.

Bryan has urged nuclear power plants to store the waste on their property in dry casks.

The nuclear industry continues to argue that the federal government promised to accept the radioactive wastes by 1998. A number of utilities sued the government over its failure to take the highly radioactive wastes on time.