Yucca Nuke Plan Passes Senate
The Senate voted Tuesday to store thousands of tons of radioactive waste inside Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert, rejecting the state's fervent protests and ending years of political debate over nuclear waste disposal.
The vote to transport the waste from more than 100 sites around the country to Nevada clears the way for President Bush to proceed with the project, which has been under study for more than 20 years.
The measure was passed by a voice vote and overrides the state of Nevada's objections to the plan. Because the measure was the same as the House version, it does not need to go to conference and can now be sent directly to the White House for the president's signature.
The government has spent nearly $7 billion in search of a nuclear waste site, including $4.5 billion since 1978 studying Yucca Mountain, which is located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Congress in 1987 directed that the Nevada site be the only one to be considered.
The vote is obviously a blow to Nevada, which complained bitterly about becoming the nation's nuclear waste dumping ground, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss. But it's a big victory for the nuclear power industry, which lobbied hard for the plan.
Nevada's senators, who tried for months to rally their colleagues against the Yucca waste dump, argued that the issue was much broader than Nevada. They hoped concerns over thousands of waste shipments crossing 43 states would sway some lawmakers, but were disappointed.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., lashed out at nuclear lobbyists and their ``unending source of money'' for perpetuating ``the big lie'' that the Nevada dump was urgently needed. The waste most of it from nuclear power plants can be kept safely where it is, avoiding the transportation risks, Reid insisted.
If Congress does not act, countered Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, nuclear power itself would be threatened, the government could face lawsuits, and lawmakers will have to start looking all over again for a waste site with no indication where the search might lead.
Asked why he could not muster more opposition to the Yucca dump among GOP senators, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., replied: ``Nimby. Not in my backyard. They do not want to reopen this.''
Yet 15 Democrats voted with almost all of the GOP senators for the waste site. Only three Republicans - Sens. Ensign, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado - opposed the dump. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., did not vote.
Some senators worried that waste shipments might become terrorist targets or lead to radiation releases in a severe accident. They criticized the Energy Department for not clarifying how the wastes would get to Nevada and what routes it would take.
But the Bush administration and other supporters of the Nevada waste dump said leaving the radioactive garbage at power plants and defense sites in 39 states would pose an even greater risk. And they said waste for years has been transported without accidents that led to radiation releases.