Domenici Defends Nuclear Waste Crisis Study

WASHINGTON – A landmark study of America’s nuclear waste crisis received widespread praise upon its release last week, but on Thursday a pair of Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had harsh words for the study.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking Republican on the panel, said the report issued by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future was a step backward. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, said he was disappointed the 180-page report didn’t offer concrete solutions to the thorny problem of where to put the waste.

The commission, created by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, was not asked to recommend sites for storing nuclear waste. Former Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican who served on the commission, joined the panel’s two invited chairmen – former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft – at the witness table to field questions from the committee.

“Where are we going here?” an irritated Risch asked. “Here we are, Feb. 2, 2012, and we’re in the same place we’ve been year after year. Who’s going to do this? When is it going to be done? And where is it going to be? We’ve spent billions and billions, and we’re the most powerful country in the world, and we can’t figure out how to do this.”

Hamilton and Scowcroft said the report suggests a collaborative approach to determine where temporary and permanent waste storage facilities will be located – and that it could take a decade or more to reach those conclusions. The Waste Isolation Pilot Project near Carlsbad is cited in the report as having an exemplary track record for community cooperation in locating nuclear waste there.

Domenici challenged Risch to help solve the problem.

“I would throw it back to you and say we’ve concluded that there is no way to do it without some new laws,”Domenici said. “If you agree with us, help us by getting on board and working to get this law changed.”

Domenici said part of the problem is that money collected in fees from nuclear power operators to help find solutions for storing the toxic waste – about $750 million annually – is put into the general Treasury and not set aside for the purpose for which they were intended. He said a new law is needed to ensure the money is used to further the cause of nuclear waste disposal.

Murkowski argued that the formation of the commission resulted in a virtual freeze on any government progress in addressing nuclear waste, including a complete shutdown on work at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

“We are actually in a worse position now than before,” Murkowski said.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who is chairman of the Senate energy committee, said Thursday that the commission’s report was “solid and eminently sensible.”
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal