Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004 | 9:41 a.m.
This is in response to the Aug. 22 letter from Tamara Thompson, headlined "Users must fund nuclear disposal."
Ms. Thompson erred in saying nuclear waste is owned by the "nuclear plants." The federal government owns the nuclear waste. This ownership agreement has been in place since the 1950s and was reinforced by law in the Waste Policy Act of 1982. Additionally, regarding who pays for storage of the waste, the $23 billion to $25 billion in surcharges (depending on the source of the figure) paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund by the commercial nuclear power industry was for the development of the Yucca Mountain Repository.
These monies were set aside strictly for the development of the repository and should be made available without further meddling by Congress -- Congress has spent $9 billion to $10 billion of this money on other items and uses the remainder to offset the budget.
For the good of this country, nuclear waste will come here. If Nevadans are smart, they will take every opportunity to reap the benefits of locating the repository here.
JIM RALEIGH
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