Revised bill renews push for nuke waste at Test Site

Robin Brown and Mark D. Preston

Tuesday, March 16, 1999 | 11:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Saying the time is long overdue for the federal government to take responsibility for the nation's nuclear waste, four senators introduced legislation Monday that would make Nevada a temporary dumping ground for the nation's high-level nuclear waste by 2003.

The amended Nuclear Waste Policy Act would establish the Nevada Test Site as an interim dump for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. The site would begin accepting the nuclear waste by June 30, 2003.

The Test Site is about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas and 40 miles east of Yucca Mountain, the only area being evaluated by the Department of Energy as a possible permanent repository for the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

Nevada's two senators immediately criticized Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo of Idaho, Frank Murkowski of Alaska and Rod Grams of Minnesota for introducing the legislation.

"It is very strange to see the Senate GOP leadership introduce this bill when the supporters of interim storage have already admitted it is safer for the nation to store the waste where it is on site at the reactors," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

"With new and competing proposals that see alternatives to storing nuclear waste in Nevada, the support in Congress for shipping nuclear waste to Nevada is quickly eroding," Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said. "Unfortunately, the Senate and House leadership have yet to get that message."

The two Nevada senators are referring to a plan that Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has floated over the past two weeks to require the federal government to manage the nuclear fuel at power plants across the country until a permanent repository is found.

The federal government failed to meet its 1998 legal obligation to start managing the used nuclear fuel and has come under fire from the nuclear-power industry. Nuclear utilities have filed lawsuits against the DOE. If the utilities succeed in court, the punitive damages could eliminate the funds collected from electric ratepayers to pay for a permanent repository.

Crapo said managing the spent fuel on site is unacceptable.

"The administration's proposal is nothing more than a stopgap proposal," Crapo said. "Ultimately, the nation must deal with what to do with its spent nuclear fuel."

But Richardson said Friday that it is unfair for Nevada to become a temporary storage site while Yucca Mountain is still under study. The DOE has pledged that a decision on Yucca Mountain's suitability as a permanent dump, due in 2003, will be based on science and not politics.

The Clinton administration is prepared to veto any legislation for temporary storage of nuclear waste. The president's veto threat killed similar legislation last year.

Craig said the legislation will help remove nuclear waste from "back yards across the nation."

"The issue is very simple: We can choose to have one remote, safe, environmentally sound nuclear-waste storage site in the middle of the Nevada desert," Craig said, "or through inaction and delay, we can follow the administration's proposal and allow the waste to build up at individual sites scattered around the country, posing an environmental and security risk."

Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said a viability assessment of Yucca Mountain that indicated no problems with the site as the permanent repository would help in passing the legislation introduced Monday.

Similar legislation has been introduced in the House.

Sun reporter Mary Manning contributed to this report.