Bush signs smaller Yucca budget

Suzanne Struglinski

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2003 | 9:27 a.m.

WASHINGTON --President Bush signed into law the $580 million budget for the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain project and close to $200 million for other projects in Nevada on Monday.

Nevada's congressional delegation opposed the final version of the Energy and Water Development spending bill, which contains the funds.

Nevada Reps. Shelley Berkley, a Democrat, and Republicans Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons all voted against the final bill last month because of the Yucca Mountain budget. The Senate approved the bill but did not have a roll call vote.

The $580 million is a decrease from the department's $591 million request for the planned nuclear waste storage site at Yucca, but a $120 million increase from the current fiscal year.

The House had originally approved $765 million for the nuclear waste storage project planned 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, while the Senate approved $425 million. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations subcommittee that writes the bill each year, negotiated the funds down to $580 million.

The department maintains it will still meet its December 2004 deadline to submit its Nuclear Regulatory Commission license application for the site. Within the new budget, $525 will go for licensing activities with the remaining money split among transporation and other elements of the program.

Also in the newly signed law, the president approved $24.9 million for Enhanced Test Readines, matching the president's request, but restricted the National Nuclear Security Administration to improve test readiness capability to a 24-month gear-up rather the the proposed 18 months at the Nevada Test Site. Right now preparation could take up to three years.

The Modern Pit Facility program received $10.8 million, down from the $12 million approved earlier. The president wanted $23 million for the program.