Yucca budget facing trims

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, July 13, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The federal budget for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project is being hammered out in Congress, and the Department of Energy could end up with considerably less than what it needs for critical work.

That would be good news for Nevadans who want to see the project stalled, although it's still too early to know for sure how final budget numbers will shake out.

"We're talking about something that could be completely changed," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who sits on the Appropriations Committee.

The appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water today is scheduled to discuss the line items in the spending bill. Wrapped in that bill are budget line items allocating $351 million for the Yucca project for fiscal year 2001, the same amount as the current year according to Reid staffers.

That's $86 million less than the $437.5 million the DOE requested. The House on June 28 budgeted $413 million, $24 million less than the DOE wanted.

The final amount likely will be decided by a committee of both House and Senate member negotiators.

It is too early in the budget process to comment on which Yucca programs would suffer with less funding, DOE spokeswoman Jaqueline Johnson said Tuesday. But one DOE official admitted the Senate's $351 million budget offering "would hurt."

Nevada's delegation in Congress is strongly opposed to the Yucca plan, a proposal to store the nation's nuclear waste -- 77,000 tons of highly radioactive material -- in tunnels under the mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

So far DOE has spent more than $7.5 billion studying Yucca to determine if it is a safe waste storage site. DOE documents show that the project could cost roughly $44 billion before it is completed in 2116.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., went so far as to vote against the entire energy and water bill in protest over the Yucca line item, even though it contained money for other important Nevada projects, like flood control.

"Their effort (in the Senate) to reduce the budget has at least slowed the process down, and anytime we slow the process down, it helps Nevada," Gibbons said.

DOE officials say the ambitious, first-of-its-kind Yucca project is in a critical phase. The DOE needs cash to put together a comprehensive application to properly license the waste dump with the government. The DOE plans to apply for that license next year. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must approve the license.

"Funding is needed to complete the activities necessary for an informed policy decision," Ivan Itkin, director of the DOE office that oversees Yucca, said at a recent House budget hearing.

The DOE also needs money to make a transition between contractors who are working at Yucca, Itkin said.

Congress has until Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, to pass its 13 appropriations bills, including the energy and water bill.