Senate won’t debate nuclear waste bill this year

Friday, Nov. 12, 1999 | 10:27 a.m.

Democratic Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid threatened a filibuster that could last a week or more over a bill that would allow higher levels of radiation at the Yucca Mountain site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said this week that the bill won't be debated this year, but it will come up early next year.

"Nuclear waste is a lot like opera - it's not over until the fat lady sings," Bryan said. "There are a lot of acts, it seems, left."

Nevada, backed by various environmental groups, has been battling the Department of Energy since a long-term storage facility was first proposed for southern Nevada more than a decade ago.

As the debate continues, lethal commercial waste continues to stack up at nuclear plants around the nation - now more than 42,000 tons, mostly in cooling pools not designed for permanent safekeeping. Industry representatives have pushed for a decision to create a permanent repository.

Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said $6 billion has been spent studying and preparing the Yucca Mountain site. He said it was chosen because it is remote and part of the Nevada Test Site where 800 nuclear bombs were detonated.

"The reality is, I am very sensitive to the feelings of the people in Nevada regarding the waste. But we have to store it somewhere," he said recently on the Senate floor. "The logic has always been that the best place to store this waste is in an area where we have had 50 years of nuclear testing, out in the desert."

President Clinton has promised to veto any bill targeting the nuclear waste for Nevada. Reid and Bryan believe they have the necessary 34 Senate votes to sustain a presidential veto next year.

The veto is "the most important element of our strategy," Bryan said. "We'd be in a world of hurt if President Clinton hadn't threatened a veto."