Reid backs research hoping to transform nuke waste

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 10:53 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has endorsed further research into transforming high-level nuclear waste into less harmful elements, rather than dumping it into a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

A new report from eight Department of Energy laboratories and international experts called for six years and $281 million in funds to develop the latest version of transmutation, the transformation of toxic radioactive substances into more stable elements.

"Transmutation is not the answer to all of our questions about nuclear waste storage, but it does hold promise as an alternative to permanent burial at Yucca Mountain," Reid said. A full-blown transmutation program could cost $280 billion over 117 years.

"I fully support increased research and development funding to explore this exciting new technology and its potential for changing the direction that Congress has taken on nuclear waste disposal in Nevada," Reid said.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied as a dump for the nation's 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., has secured $9 million for continued transmutation research for 2000. Domenici has criticized the U.S. nuclear waste management program and has said he has doubts about Yucca Mountain ever opening.

The DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory in Albuquerque in Domenici's home state led the breakthrough in transmutation within the past two years.

Last year Domenici visited the Nevada Test Site and Yucca Mountain with Reid. As the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, Reid worked with Domenici, the committee's chair, to fund the current research.

The DOE has already spent more than $6 billion on Yucca Mountain and the site has not been deemed scientifically suitable, Reid said.

"There has been seismic activity in the area, continued questions about the potential for ground water contamination and a host of other safety concerns," he said.

University of Nevada, Reno seismologists have reported continuing aftershocks to a 5.7 temblor at Scotty's Junction, about 150 miles northwest of Las Vegas and 40 miles northwest of Yucca Mountain.

The magnitudes of the smaller quakes have ranged from 3s to 4s, seismologist John Louie said. "The aftershocks from an earthquake of that size will continue for more than a year," he said.