Utah senator: Yucca ‘does not make sense’

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, once a strong supporter of the proposed high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, announced a surprising change of heart on Tuesday, arguing that the nation should rethink Yucca Mountain.

His speech marked the first significant defection of a Senate Yucca supporter.

"However much the idea of a single repository may have made sense decades ago, it is now clear that it does not make sense, and we need to move in some future direction," Bennett said in a Senate speech.

Bennett essentially advocated abandoning the nation's nuclear waste strategy set in motion by Congress in 1983 -- the ambitious, $58 billion plan to bury the nation's most radioactive waste in an underground repository. Congress in 1987 chose Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the best site.

While the nuclear industry pressured lawmakers to support Yucca, Nevada political leaders have long argued that it was better to leave waste where it currently sits, at the nation's nuclear power plants. They also have advocated investing in waste reprocessing technology used by other nations to recycle waste.

Bennett sided with the Nevadans on both points. He did not unveil legislation but said he aimed to work with Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., toward those goals.

"And to those who had the vision long ago, who have earned the right to say to the rest of us, 'I told you so,' I say I will be happy to join with you, too, to see how we can think this thing through and get the best solution for our nation."

There may be a useful purpose for Yucca Mountain, but not as a waste repository, Bennett said. The nation should try to "retain some of the investment we have made there," Bennett said.

"I am not one who thinks we ought to just fill Yucca Mountain up with dirt and walk away and leave it," he said.

The effect on other senators of Bennett's about-face was not immediately known.

But Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Senate support for Yucca is eroding. Ensign said other senators have told him they do not think Yucca Mountain will ever open because of all the problems associated with it, although they are not saying it publicly yet.

"We are talking about the same solution, and that is keeping it on site," Ensign said. "We've been talking about this for a long time."

The Energy Department has spent about $7 billion on Yucca research, including a research tunnel. But the underground repository has not been constructed.

Domenici, who has long been an advocate of both Yucca and reprocessing, was coy when asked about Bennett's speech and about Yucca's future.

"Yucca Mountain must remain alive," Domenici told the Sun. When asked why, Domenici said, "Yucca Mountain must remain alive -- quote me right."

When pressed for clarification, Domenici smiled and said, "I didn't say what it (Yucca) should be."

When asked if it should be a waste repository, a laughing Domenici ducked into an elevator and said, "It should remain alive. You write what you want about what that means."

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, long a strident Yucca supporter, said Bennett's new stance can be attributed to fears about a ruling this week by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that voted to license a temporary nuclear waste dump in Utah.

Many consider the interim site as a stepping stone to Yucca. Indeed, Bennett on Tuesday argued that it was not wise to ship waste from plants to what amounts to another above-ground temporary waste site.

Craig said, "The bottom line is, we need both: Yucca Mountain and reprocessing."

When asked if there is still broad support for Yucca Mountain in the Senate, Craig said, "To my knowledge there is, yes."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who like Bennett has been a Yucca advocate, also hinted that his support is wavering. He said he was considering other approaches to dealing with the nation's waste.

"I never had a lot of support for it (Yucca)," Hatch said. "I've never felt good about voting for Yucca Mountain."

Hatch and Bennett in 2002 struck a deal with the White House to support Yucca in exchange for White House opposition to the temporary Utah site. But the NRC approved the Utah site, and the project's nuclear utility company backers are pressing ahead, despite Utah leaders who vow to continue fighting it.

Hatch said the nation's best option for nuclear waste is reprocessing.

"Even if Yucca Mountain became a reality, and it may never become such, it's full the day it opens," Hatch said, referring to Yucca's 77,000-ton capacity.

Nevada lawmakers heartily cheered Bennett's speech.

Momentum is shifting in Congress to finding a waste alternative to Yucca, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said.

"I have spent 20 years fighting the absurd idea that massive quantities of deadly nuclear waste can be transported across thousands of miles," Reid said. "I look forward to joining forces with Sen. Bennett as we work to protect our states, the West and the nation."

Bennett said his new stance was a "win-win situation for all."

"Nevada can get some value out of the investment that has been made in Yucca Mountain if we think it through carefully," he said. "The nation can get additional power without the greenhouse gas effects that comes from fossil fuels and we can ultimately solve the problems of nuclear waste with reprocessing."

Reprocessing waste involves recovering uranium and plutonium from waste, which is actually spent nuclear fuel rods. The nation has not pursued reprocessing largely due to fears that plutonium could end up in the hands of terrorists, who could convert it into weapons.

But Bennett downplayed the risks associated with reprocessing waste.

"We do not to run the risk of having weapons-grade plutonium in the hands of private entities," Bennett said. "We want to be sure that the government controls that."

Bennett joined Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who last week voiced support for legislation being planned by Reid and Ensign that would keep waste at power plants.

Bishop spokesman Scott Parker said much of what Reid has been saying about Private Fuel Storage makes sense: "Don't bring it out West." Parker said Bishop supports on-site storage and reprocessing.