Saturday, Feb. 25, 2006 | 8:40 a.m.
WASHINGTON - Bolstered by President Bush's call for a nuclear energy renaissance, the nuclear power industry is launching what it describes as the most ambitious campaign in its history to try to shift public opinion in its favor.
At the same time, the industry's leading trade group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, is trying to persuade the Bush administration and Congress to move even more aggressively to develop Yucca Mountain as a waste repository. The institute has given the administration a list of five steps it could take to clear hurdles to construction of Yucca.
The nuclear industry has been emboldened in recent years by the Bush administration's commitment to nuclear power. Bush has proposed using government money to help the industry construct a new generation of plants.
This year Bush went further, unveiling the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, with the goal of building nuclear plants not just in the United States, but around the world. At its heart is a proposal to develop waste-recycling technology - and to keep Yucca on track.
Foes of nuclear energy, who have won many victories over the last three decades, say the industry has a long way to go to persuade Americans to support new nuclear plants.
"In polls, when you ask people if they believe we need nuclear to solve the greenhouse gas problem, they say, 'Well, yeah, I guess so,' " said Michele Boyd, legislative director for Public Citizen's energy programs.
"But if you ask them if they are willing to have a nuclear power plant in their back yard, they say, 'Hell, no.' "
The institute has long been an influential player on Capitol Hill, with 250 corporate members and a staff of 130.
The group is a top sponsor of lawmaker trips, including travel to Las Vegas for Yucca tours and overseas to nuclear facilities in France, Spain, Italy and England.
The institute has spent nearly $325,000 on lawmaker trips since 2000, ranking at No. 7 on a list of more than 2,000 private groups that sponsored congressional travel. The organization's political action committee gives campaign cash to its allies on Capitol Hill - $150,000 in the 2004 election cycle.
Its member corporations and executives gave nearly $30 million to lawmakers in the 10 years prior to the 2002 up-or-down Yucca vote in Congress, according to a study by the group Common Cause.
The public relations campaign could cost roughly $8 million, one trade publication reported, although the institute would not confirm that, critics said.
In the run-up to the 2002 Yucca vote, the institute waged an expensive, all-out lobbying assault and a media blitz.
This year, the organization's aggressive campaign includes a proposal for Congress to remove a long-standing storage limit of 77,000 tons of waste. The Energy Department has said Yucca could hold 105,000 tons, and the institute believes the capacity is even greater.
In arguing for lifting the limit, the institute's waste management director, Steve Kraft, said Congress never explicitly agreed that the nation should have more than one repository. He said Congress intended to explore other sites merely to compare geologies - the volcanic tuft of Yucca, for instance, with salt domes or granite sites, which also were examined more than 20 years ago.
Kraft said the cap at Yucca hindered plans for new U.S. plants.
"We know that nuclear energy is going to expand, so that has to be dealt with," Kraft said.
The institute is pressing the Energy Department to include the industry's top five priorities into a "fix Yucca" bill it is drafting.
Those five include an agreement to move waste off nuclear plant sites, where it is currently held - a requirement that would apply enormous pressure to open Yucca. Kraft said the institute supports an amendment to allow creation of a temporary waste site near Yucca.
Also, the industry wants the budget process in Washington changed to guarantee a steady stream of funding, which has been curtailed by Congress, and wants rules changed that could hinder development of new plants.
Kraft also said he had no doubt Yucca would be constructed, with a possible opening by 2025.
"We've never lost our confidence," he said. "The scientific basis remains excellent."
Anti-Yucca forces do not have the money to match the institute's campaign. They have drawn their success from a nationwide network of grass-roots organizations - and they will be called upon this year, said Kevin Kamps, a nuclear waste specialist with Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
"How do you fight a Goliath?" Kamps asked. "With everything you've got, all the time."
The industry's public relations campaign will include heavy emphasis at the grass-roots level as well, trying to create support through networks of organizations.
Industry officials have said the construction of 12 to 19 new reactors is realistic in the next 20 years, although ground hasn't been broken on a new plant in this country since 1974.
Benajamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at [email protected].
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