You can bet that the issue of nuclear power will be raised yet again. It's one of the few energy sources that does not contribute to greenhouse gas formation and global warming if you believe that sort of thing. One nuclear plant could produce more power than several conventionally powered oil or gas or coal fired plants, without the particulate emissions.
The single biggest impediment to a resurgence of nuclear power in the US is Harry Reid. He opposes the formation of a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The site was chosen because of the geological stability and the ability to hold the high level nuclear wastes in a secure facility for the thousands of years necessary.
Reid is about to put his state's interests ahead of that of the entire nation and the potential to not only wean the country off fossil fuels for a significant part of its energy generation, but ensure a long term supply of electricity along an improved power grid.
Among Reid's first acts after this month's election was to convene a conference call with home-state reporters to declare Yucca Mountain ''dead right now.''Reid knows damned well that his agenda to keep Yucca Mountain funding from the Senate floor would effectively kill the project, and the hopes of any new nuclear power facilities being built in the country since there is no plan to deal with the nuclear waste generated by the existing nuclear plants. Instead, those current plants have to store the waste on site - potential targets for terrorists - and susceptible to problems such as leaks of radioactive water from containment pools.
''It sure is different now than when I came [to the Senate] in 1986,'' the senator observed.
The dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is planned as the first national repository for radioactive waste. It's supposed to hold 77,000 tons of the material -- from commercial power plant reactors and defense sites nationwide -- for thousands of years. About 50,000 tons of the waste is stored in temporary sites at 65 power plants in 31 states. Reid would leave all of it in place.
Originally targeted to open in 1998, Yucca Mountain has been repeatedly set back by lawsuits, money shortfalls and scientific controversies. The Energy Department's best-case opening date is 2017.
The effort to create a national storage site has cost about $9 billion, $6.5 billion of which has been spent on Yucca. Four years ago, the Energy Department estimated the project would cost $58 billion to build and operate for the first 100 years. New cost projections are being worked up, and they are expected to total more than $70 billion.
The department proposed legislation earlier this year meant to fix problems with the dump, which is a mounting liability to taxpayers because the government was contractually obligated to take nuclear waste off utilities' hands starting in 1998. Energy Department officials say at least one legislative change -- formally withdrawing land around the dump site -- is needed before construction can begin.
'There's not much to kill'
Reid, however, pledged after the Nov. 7 election that not only will no bill to help Yucca Mountain reach the Senate floor under his leadership, funding for the project also will dry up quickly. Annual spending on the dump that has ranged between $450 million and $550 million in recent years ''will be cut back significantly, that will be for sure,'' he vowed.
Reid said he couldn't single-handedly kill the dump, something that would require a vote of Congress and approval by President Bush. But he added: ''There's not much to kill.''
This is yet another issue to watch out for in the upcoming session.
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