Berkley to focus on Yucca Mountain

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., today said she is concerned the new Republican-controlled Congress will approve a temporary nuclear waste storage facility near Yucca Mountain, so that waste can be shipped before the permanent dump project is complete.

Berkley said pro-Yucca GOP lawmakers were quietly discussing pushing for an interim dump before Congress recessed for a pre-election break. She said the proposal would be tougher to stop now that the GOP controls the Senate.

"This has very serious implications for the state of Nevada," Berkley said. "That is going to be a major, major battle."

But Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he was not aware of a movement afoot to establish a temporary dump. He said it was "equally difficult" to fight such a proposal now as it was before the GOP took control of both chambers of Congress.

"That is something that we'll continue to fight," Gibbons said. "It always ends up that Nevada is on the short end of the stick."

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said no GOP senators are discussing interim storage. He pointed to a 1999 vote by a Senate panel to reject an interim storage plan.

"We killed that when we were in the majority," Ensign said. "This is a dead issue."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said it's not clear whether an interim dump fight looms.

"We'll just have to see what they (Republicans) want to do," Reid said today. "They control everything now."

One nuclear industry spokesman said industry lobbyists in the new Congress will be first focused on securing more federal funding for the nuclear waste dump project, not an interim site.

"It's way too early to make assessments on anything beyond funding at this point," said Steve Kerekes, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's top trade group.

The Energy Department aims to establish a dump for the nation's most radioactive high-level waste at Yucca by 2010, assuming it receives Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval. But some lawmakers, and some nuclear industry officials, have said they would like waste shipped sooner to Nevada, where it could be stored above ground until the tunnels under Yucca Mountain are constructed.

"Certainly I would expect the industry to push for interim legislation sooner or later given the inevitable delays of the Yucca Mountain project," said Lisa Gue, who tracks Yucca issues for Public Citizen, which opposes the dump. "The real question becomes: Does the new make-up of the Congress significantly increase the chances of the legislation passing?"