Bush budget includes $591 million for Yucca

Benjamin Grove

Monday, Feb. 3, 2003 | 11:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush today asked Congress for $591 million budget for the Yucca Mountain project for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. That's about the same amount Bush requested for the current fiscal year.

The request for the planned nuclear waste facility was part of Bush's $2.23 trillion budget proposal sent to lawmakers today.

The Energy Department needs the money to continue to assemble a complex application for a license to construct the nuclear waste dump project, the budget says. The department plans to submit the application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission next year.

In addition, the department needs money to plan a massive waste-shipping campaign.

"The Administration also will seek additional funding to begin essential transportation-related activities and provide a long-term management and financing plan for the entire licensing and construction effort," Bush's budget says.

The document adds, "The Administation is committed to ensuring the environmentally sound and safe disposal of the Nation's radioactive waste."

Congress and Bush last year approved the Yucca site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas as the best site to construct a national repository for the nation's nuclear waste. The waste is now piling up at commercial power plant reactors and U.S. Defense Department and weapons sites.

The project has not been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is subject to lawsuits filed by the state of Nevada. But the Energy Department still aims to open the site by 2010, according to the budget document.

Today marked the beginning of an annual cycle in Washington which starts when the president submits his budget to Congress. Lawmakers then spend months debating -- and changing -- its details.

Haggling over the Yucca budget is a subplot of the larger debate, with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., playing a leading role. Reid, a member of the Appropriations Committee, is usually successful in reducing the Yucca budget as Nevada lawmakers seek to delay the project.

Bush's $591 million request matches what Bush ultimately requested for the current fiscal year, although Bush may get less for this year. Due to budget haggling, House and Senate negotiators are still finalizing the current fiscal year budget, which for now allocates $336 million for Yucca.

Bush's budget request for next year indicates that the Energy Department aims to obtain the land around Yucca, most of which is owned by the Bureau of Land Management or the Department of Defense's Nellis Air Force Base.

"The Administration plans to submit a proposal to withdraw permanently from settlement, sale, location or entry under some or all of the general land laws, certain lands comprising and contiguous to the Yucca Mountain geological repository operations area," the budget document says.

The Energy Department has spent more than $7 billion on science, research and planning for Yucca during the 20-year history of the project. The total cost of the project is expected to top $58 billion, although critics estimate that the cost could be nearly twice that.