Support for Yucca softens a little more

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2005 | 7:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A key senator who was once a strong advocate of Yucca Mountain offered some of his harshest words yet about the proposed nuclear waste repository.

"As most of you know, it was not a good solution either on straight science, or surely, on economic grounds," Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Tuesday in a speech to a group of U.S. and Japanese nuclear power leaders.

"So clearly, we have to move in another direction."

Domenici has long been a supporter of the nation's policy on dealing with the radioactive spent fuel from nuclear plants and U.S. defense sites: burying it in underground tunnels at Yucca Mountain.

But Domenici, a vocal advocate of nuclear power and considered the Senate leader on nuclear issues, has distanced himself from Yucca in recent public comments.

"For years Yucca Mountain was the answer, and we ran around talking about it as if it were the singular answer," Domenici said Tuesday. "But we all know that it was a creature of nineteen-hundred and eighty-two.

"While Yucca was created as the final resting place, there can be no doubt that it is not the final answer."

Domenici's comments came as the Energy Department is preparing a new national nuclear waste policy that is likely to embrace recycling. While the department is now pushing for a simpler plan for Yucca, it will not abandon the project.

"Our administration is committed to successfully establishing Yucca Mountain as the nation's permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel," Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell said in a speech Monday. "Solving the problem of how to store spent fuel will reap tremendous benefits for America's future and will greatly facilitate the expansion of nuclear power."

Industry observers and interested lawmakers have eagerly awaited the department's new policy for months, but it is not likely to be unveiled this year, department spokesman Craig Stevens said.

Domenici said he has heard enough about the developing policy "to know it's exciting, but I've not heard enough about it to say I'm clamoring for it."

Domenici has not publicly advocated that long-delayed Yucca program be scrapped. He has said he envisions a new, broader national nuclear waste policy in which Yucca Mountain plays some role.

"In this environment, the current U.S. policy regarding Yucca Mountain clearly won't do," Domenici said. "And it won't do all by itself. I believe we must completely re-evaluate our policy on spent nuclear fuel."

Domenici is quietly discussing waste policy with the Energy Department. He also has discussed it with strident Yucca foe Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Domenici has not embraced a proposal advocated by Reid and the rest of the Nevada congressional delegation -- leaving waste where it now sits on site at the nation's nuclear power plants.

Domenici has expressed interest in storing waste at government interim sites.

"Interim storage is a very good solution," Domenici said Tuesday.

Domenici also said the nation should pour its "scientific passion and creativity" into developing new waste-handling technology in the next 20 years.

Domenici also advocates a policy that includes plans to recycle spent fuel, which ultimately could reduce the toxicity of the waste bound for Yucca.

President Jimmy Carter banned recycling because of fears that the process, which separates plutonium from waste, could enable terrorists to obtain the bomb-making material. Domenici said those fears are unfounded.

Domenici is not the first lawmaker to soften his stance on Yucca. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, in September scrapped his support for it, and others are re-thinking their positions, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has said.

Domenici's speech fell just two weeks after he and Reid led an effort to slash this year's Yucca budget from a Bush administration request of $651 million to $450 million. Domenici is chairman of an appropriations panel that also allocated $50 million for waste recycling technology.

"I am convinced that our great nation cannot be self-reliant, prosperous and green without more nuclear energy," Domenici said.

Benjamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or bgrove@lasvegassun.com.