Biggest Yucca obstacle may be budgetCongress has yet to boost fundingBy Suzanne Struglinski
SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU
July 26, 2004
WASHINGTON -- While a court battle threatens to derail the Energy Department's plans to ship nuclear waste to Nevada, the department could see the Yucca Mountain project delayed by a budget crunch.
Nevada officials have placed their hopes to kill the project on the courts, which issued a favorable ruling earlier this month, but so far the budget could be the key.
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The commission requested $69.1 million to work on the license application next year, a $36 million increase from this year. Diaz said keeping the funding level at just over half its request "would disrupt our preparation to review the DOE application and delay our review of that application, once submitted." Planned tests for containers used to ship the spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain would also be put on hold, Diaz said.
For the department's budget, the House has passed only $131 million for the project, despite the department's $880 million request...Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has told Congress that the license application deadline would be "at risk" if the budget stayed at $131 million.
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