Reprocessing plans tied to Yucca delays, scientist tells panel

[NVMojo]

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's ambitious plans to reprocess nuclear waste may be tied in part to dissatisfaction over the lagging repository project at Yucca Mountain, a leading scientist and former Energy Department executive said Wednesday.

The administration is moving too fast to develop unproven technology through its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP, said Ernest Moniz, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


"Right or wrong, the program being discussed has created an impression of being hellbent to reprocess current spent fuel, perhaps created by Yucca frustration," Moniz said in a presentation to a National Academies of Science panel.

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http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Apr-13-Thu-2006/news/6843190.html

[NNadir]

1. Richter's remarks.

Richter said the United States needs to revive its nuclear waste reprocessing efforts "and GNEP is a very good start.

"One of the things it is very important for critics to recognize is that the United States is no longer the big gorilla that controls what happens in the nuclear energy business," Richter said.

"I don't consider it to be an economic catastrophe for us to spend a few billion dollars to rebuild a totally decayed nuclear infrastructure in the United States," he said.