Reid has concerns about nuke waste transport bill

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., next year plans to push a bill aimed at making nuclear waste transportation to Nevada safer.

At issue is the Energy Department's plan to ship the nation's most dangerous radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for permanent burial. The project, to be completed by 2010 at the earliest, has been approved by President Bush and Congress but not the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Energy Department is in the initial stages of working out a waste transportation plan, and has asked Congress for more money for the planning.

Durbin's bill, introduced last week as Congress continued to meet in a lame-duck session directs the Department of Transportation to establish a transportation safety program that considers terrorist threats and other dangers. It requires a department progress report for Congress one year later.

Reid has called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to bolster its regulations of waste shipments to make them more secure, in coordination with -- not in place of -- the DOT. But today he said he had "no objection" to Durbin's bill, which takes a different strategy, effectively transferring responsibility for the waste transportation plan from the NRC to the DOT.

"I'm glad he's interested," Reid said.

Reid said he had no plans to introduce his own bill calling for waste transportation measures, pending Nevada's legal challenges to the Yucca project in general. The best way to prevent nuclear waste shipment accidents is to not ship waste to Yucca at all, he said.

Reid over the years has supported other goals of the Durbin bill, which requires:

Durbin's bill specifically requires guards at the front and rear of each train. Energy Department proposals require a guard only on trains traveling through urban areas.

Durbin introduced the bill last week, signaling willingness to make changes and calling it a "work in progress." The Chicago Tribune has called Illinois a waste transportation "crossroads" with up to 69,000 shipments across the state in the first 38 years of Yucca's operation. It's possible some waste could be shipped on barges on the Great Lakes, which Durbin opposes.

Durbin voted in favor of moving forward with Yucca when the Senate approved the project earlier this year.

An Energy Department spokesman was not available today for comment on the Durbin bill.