House panel allocates $$ for nuclear storage

WASHINGTON — The House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee earmarked $30 million Thursday for interim nuclear-waste storage, and with the money came a promise from the subcommittee's chairman that he was not trying to force nuclear waste on any community.

The chairman and the Energy Department have insisted they are not looking to put nuclear waste at the Private Fuel Storage site on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Tooele County. But any talk of an interim site keeps the PFS idea alive.

"We're skeptical the $30 million for interim storage won't target Skull Valley," said Vanessa Pierce, program director at the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah. "With its NRC license, right now PFS is the only game in town. And that's why we're counting on Sen. Bennett to cut this money when it gets to his committee in the Senate."

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which will eventually make its own version of the bill. The House subcommittee's version is expected to go to the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. The full House needs to approve it, and the process needs to be repeated in the Senate until lawmakers from each chamber can work out the differences and produce a final budget.

The House version so far includes $544.5 million — the president's full request — for the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste storage project in Nevada. Subcommittee Chairman David Hobson, R-Ohio, is a strong Yucca supporter and wants to see the program move forward and be completed as soon as possible.

He also said the government needs to find a place to temporarily store used nuclear fuel until Yucca opens, although he did not name a specific place as to where the waste should go. He would like to see a solicitation go out for license facilities that could store nuclear waste until Yucca is ready.

"You're going to need an interim storage facility along the way," Hobson said. "Who has a currently licensed site that would like to store nuclear fuel?"

PFS received its license to store nuclear waste earlier this year and has asked the Energy Department to consider becoming its customer. Hobson said he is still waiting for an answer from the department on how it feels about that proposal, although the department has said in the past it will only focus on Yucca Mountain.

He said it would be "faster and easier" to move waste temporarily to a site that already has a license. Getting it there would be safe because the government and the nuclear industry have been moving waste all over the country for decades, he added.