Do you hear that cheering? Would you believe it's coming all the way from Nevada? It started when they found out that President Obama's first proposed federal budget all but kills the Yucca Mountain National Nuclear Waste Repository by cutting of its seemingly endless flow of money.
"The yucca Mountain program will be scaled back to those costs necessary to answer inquiries from the Nuclear regulatory Commission, while the Administration devises a new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal," wrote President Obama in the Department of Energy funding request section of his FY 2010 budget proposal.
It was the "new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal" part that made Nevadans and other Yucca Mountain opponents especially happy, because it served notice that Mr. Obama intended to follow through on his campaign promise to kill the controversial project, now two decades and billions of dollars in planning.
In an email to Bloomberg.com, Energy Department spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller stated that Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu "have been emphatic that nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain is not an option, period."
A leading Yucca Mountain opponent from day one, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, stated on his web site, "President Obama recognizes that the proposed dump threatens the health and safety of Nevadans, and millions of Americans. His commitment to stop this terrible project could not be clearer."
While the Obama administration develops its "new strategy" for nuclear waste disposal, the President's budget allocates funds for "improved performance and accountability for the environmental legacy of the Nation's nuclear weapons program by addressing health and safety risks across the country."
To that end, President Obama's 2010 proposed energy budget also call for an end of the Reliable Replacement Nuclear Warhead program, while increasing spending for development of systems to detect and deter nuclear smuggling and the development of weapons of mass destruction.
About the Budget Process: The president's Budget Proposal is the first step in the annual federal budget process. It serves as a "starting point" for Congress to consider as it creates, debates and passes the annual spending bills. Congress is under no obligation to adopt all or any of the president's budget and often makes significant changes. However, since the president must ultimately sign all the bills, Congress is often reluctant to completely ignore the priorities of the president's Budget Proposal.
Photo: Nevadans Protest Yucca Plan, by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Also See:
USGS May Have Falsified Yucca Mountain Research
USGS Yucca Mountain Gaffes Costing Taxpayers Millions
DOE Ups Yucca Mountain Cost Estimate
Comments
When the Senate voted on July 9, 2002, to clear the way for dumping nukes on Nevada, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Tetruault, writing from Washington, decided to cast objectivity to the winds and say it plainly in his lead (and who can blame him):
“Fifteen years after Congress passed the ‘Screw Nevada Bill,’ the deed was done Tuesday as senators voted decisively to store the nation’s deadliest nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. On a key procedural vote, senators voted 60-39 in favor of the Yucca Mountain Project, all but ending more than two decades of legislative fighting.”
Interesting to look up the roll call of that 2002 vote in light of the 2004 and 2008 elections, and what might have happened had they turned out differently: John McCain was for the dump. So was John Edwards. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton were opposed. Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla.
please put all future nuk waste in bos back yard thank you
Seriously, the NIMBYs are all around and so are those who will never believe in science or advances in technology.
Yes! the waste is dangerous. BUT, it’s no less staying put or moving to Yucca or Hanford. I’m absolutley positive that many engineers have spent mega hours studying this problem. NONE have any answers?? or suggestions?
The NV Senator is not against the jobs and money being put into the Yucca project. He just doesn’t want the toxic waste.
Much thought and money has gone into transporting and containment. “YES BUT…….!” “What if…..?” “Not thru….!”
We’ll end up talking and declaiming until the next leak without a resolution.
When I was younger {I’m near70} People/politicians saw a problem and got around to fixing it, then found the money. Now it’s only spend money and talk about it.
There are already solutions and a multiplicity of suggestions. From burying it to sending it into the Sun and, I think putting it back into the planet at the mid-oceanic ridges to recycle it.
All the money spent could have had this solved and over except for the arguers against anything.