From Deseret News archives:
Reid pushing plan to make Yucca nuclear dump obsolete
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to introduce legislation within the next few weeks that would authorize the Energy Department to assume ownership of the spent nuclear waste stored at reactors and store it at the facilities.
"This is the right thing to do, and I look forward to discussing this option with my colleagues," Reid said.
Reid has been working for years to block the Yucca Mountain repository from being built in his state, but the prospects for this plan are uncertain since it runs counter to the stated desires of President Bush, Congress and the nuclear energy industry, all of whom want the Yucca repository built.
Reid said on-site storage could mean that Yucca and a proposal by Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of nuclear power generators, to temporarily store 40,000 tons of waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah's west desert, about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, would not be needed.
Joseph Egan, an attorney fighting Yucca Mountain on behalf of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said it is possible that moving ahead with Reid's on-site storage plan would make the PFS facility unnecessary.
Utah officials have feared that if the waste would be safe to ship and store in Utah, it should also be safe left where it is.
After meeting with White House chief of staff Andrew Card this past week, Utah Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett endorsed the administration's position of building the repository, saying the best way to block the PFS site is to make sure Yucca Mountain is built.
"They are committed to a strategy of straight to Yucca. Straight to Yucca means not stopping in Skull Valley," Bennett said.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will go to Washington this week to meet with Bush administration officials about several issues, including the state's opposition to the nuclear-waste plan.
The new effort comes after the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board rejected the state's argument that there was an unacceptable risk that a fighter from Hill Air Force Base could crash into the waste site and release radioactive material.
The state has asked the board to reconsider its decision. If that fails, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will decide whether to license the facility.
