GOP, Reid headed for more conflict over Yucca, nuclear waste

[jpak]

http://www.lvrj.com/news/gop--reid-headed-for-more-conflict-over-yucca--nuclear-waste-107602518.html?ref=518

WASHINGTON -- A new Republican majority in the House is poised to assert itself on nuclear waste matters in the upcoming Congress, with newly re-elected Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada set to guard again that the Yucca Mountain repository plan is not revived.

President Barack Obama with strong direction from Reid, the Senate majority leader, shut down the Nevada program once envisioned for burying 77,000 tons of highly radioactive used nuclear fuel and waste materials into the Nye County ridge, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

A blue ribbon commission that Obama established to study alternatives is expected to release a draft report next summer, with a final version due early in 2012.

But there still is a twitch in the Yucca corpse. Two years ago the Department of Energy under President George W. Bush sought permission from government nuclear safety regulators to build out the Nevada site. Despite the change in White House leadership and policy, that application remains alive for now, if only on paper.

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[Bobbieo]

1. The Western Shoshone are also fighting this. Hope this brings WSDP back to life.