House panel talks Yucca security

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001 | 9:52 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The best way to protect nuclear waste from terrorists is to ship it from sites around the country to a high-security location in Nevada, a key senator on energy issues said today.

For years Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, has been the Senate's leading proponent of the federal proposal to permanently bury the nation's nuclear waste -- eventually, 77,000 tons -- in underground tunnels at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The waste is piling up at nuclear power plants and government sites nationwide. Nevada officials adamantly oppose the plan.

Terrorist attacks Sept. 11 have sparked debates in Congress about how vulnerable nuclear power plants and waste are to terrorist attack. Nevada lawmakers argue that if Yucca is approved, cross-country shipments of waste would be easy terrorist targets. But Murkowski suggested leaving waste on-site is a worse alternative.

"Securing our nation's waste in one central, secure and remote facility is far safer than our current scattershot approach of leaving waste at 103 nuclear power plants nationwide," Murkowski said today at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. He is the ranking Republican on the panel.

Murkowski spoke at a committee hearing as the panel considered how to better protect energy infrastructure -- power plants, oil refineries, hydroelectric dams and the computers that run them all.

"Clearly there are some things we can and should do immediately," Murkowski said. "We should complete Yucca Mountain so that our high-level radioactive waste can be stored safely."

Securing the nation's nuclear waste away from terrorists is just one of the issues being debated in Congress as lawmakers scramble to cobble together a broad array of terrorism-related legislation.

The committee this week is expected to act on a bill that would allow the Bureau of Reclamation to use more local, state and federal law enforcement officers to protect the nation's 58 hydroelectric power plants, including one of its largest at Hoover Dam. Las Vegas depends on the dam for water and electricity.

Dams are now operating at a heightened state of alert and are "secure," Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John Keys assured the panel. But Keys lobbied for a law change that would allow local, state and other federal police to enforce federal laws -- using weapons and making arrests if necessary -- on bureau property, such as dams.

"The lack of enforcement authority within a Reclamation project or on Reclamation-administered lands impedes the Bureau's ability to provide for public safety and the security of its facilities," Keys said.

Lawmakers also considered a broader bill introduced by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, aimed at protecting a vast array of U.S. sectors from cyber-terrorism, including energy, banking and finance, telecommunications and transportation systems.

Bennett said U.S. companies need to share information about possible threats and about how to best protect against them.