Finding common ground

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2005 | 8:46 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Could it be true?

Are Yucca Mountain's biggest opponent in the Senate and one of its biggest supporters working together on a nuclear waste bill that would shift the focus away from Yucca?

The trade publication Energy Daily reported Thursday that Yucca's chief antagonist, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., were discussing Reid's legislation that would require the Energy Department to take ownership of nuclear power plant waste and store it at the plants indefinitely.

The paper said another point of discussion may focus on the development of a U.S. reprocessing program, in which plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel rods would be recycled to create new fuel, theoretically decreasing the amount of waste that would be stored at Yucca.

Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said the senators are not talking about any specific proposals or bill language.

"I'm not sure where the rumors are coming from," Hafen said.

Reid has not yet introduced the legislation because he is securing support for it behind the scenes among his Senate colleagues. Reid aides point to Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, who on Sept. 20 announced he was shedding his support for Yucca in favor of on-site storage, as an example that Reid's efforts are paying off.

Getting the support of Domenici would boost the bill's chances immediately and help the state in its fight to stop the plan to ship highly radioactive waste now piling up at the plants to the proposed underground repository at Yucca for permanent burial.

A Domenici spokeswoman declined to comment to Energy Daily and could not be reached Monday by the Sun. A spokesman in Domenici's New Mexico office was unavailable Monday. Federal offices were closed for the Columbus Day holiday.

Industry officials say the nation needs a geologic repository whether it pursues reprocessing or not, and were reportedly uncomfortable that Reid and Domenici could be discussing legislation that would decrease momentum for Yucca.

Some industry officials at times have said that Yucca Mountain was important to their plans to construct a new generation of nuclear power plants.

A spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's top lobby group and leading Yucca supporter in Washington, was unavailable for comment on Monday.

Energy Daily reported that NEI chairman Adm. Skip Bowman sent a memo to nuclear industry insiders last week that said the potential for a Reid-Domenici bill was "not good news."

The publication reported that Bowman wrote, "We have been doing our dead-level best to stamp out this notion." He also wrote that leaving waste at plants could "completely dampen new plant enthusiasm."

The potential for an agreement in which the Energy Department would "take title" to the waste as it sits at the plants could actually benefit the industry, said nuclear waste specialist Kevin Kamps of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. It would at least solidify a government plan for waste, even if the industry didn't like it, Kamps said.

"Then they could say, 'Hey, what's the problem with building new reactors?' " Kamps said.

NIRS opposes reprocessing because it is a "messy" process that poses environmental and worker risks, as well as weapons proliferation concerns, Kamps said.

If Congress decides to pursue reprocessing it could be bad news for Nevada because Yucca Mountain could be chosen as the reprocessing site, Kamps said. Yucca could potentially be a waste site for the reprocessing by-product as well as the plant site, Kamps said.

"Nevada could get a double whammy," he said.

Domenici made a cryptic comment after Bennett's announcement when the Sun asked Domenici about Yucca Mountain.

"Yucca Mountain must remain alive," he said. When pressed to clarify the comment, he said, "I didn't say what it (Yucca) should be."

Reprocessing, though, would mean that nuclear waste would be shipped across country, which runs counter to arguments made by Yucca opponents.

Domenici has an interest in pursuing reprocessing technology because national laboratories in his home state stand to benefit from the research contracts, Public Citizen analyst Michele Boyd said.

But it's unlikely that any discussions between Reid and Domenici would yield a landmark agreement in the final weeks of the congressional session, largely because Domenici faces a complicated task in detaching his support from Yucca, Boyd said.

"Everybody's looking for an easy solution, and they haven't been able to find one in the last 50 years," Boyd said. "I don't think they will be able to find one this month, or next month."

Benjamin Grove is the Sun's Washington bureau chief. He can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or by e-mail at grove@lasvegassun.com.