Thursday, June 10, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Yucca Mountain faces cash crisis

House panel OKs fraction of budget request

WASHINGTON -- A House panel approved only a fraction of the money the government says it needs to keep the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project on schedule, jeopardizing a 2010 completion.

The proposed facility, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has strong congressional support. But a budget glitch forced a House Appropriations panel Wednesday to provide only $131 million for the program in the next fiscal year.

Energy Department officials had requested $880 million to begin seeking permits for the waste repository, go ahead with design work and develop a plan for transporting waste from nuclear power plants around the country.

"I think we have an obligation to get (the facility) opened and funded," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, subcommittee chairman. "But I don't have the tools right now to get that done."

The Yucca Mountain money is part of a $28 billion spending bill for energy and water projects that the subcommittee approved by voice vote Wednesday. While opportunities to increase funds for Yucca Mountain may arise as the bill works its way through the House, Hobson was not optimistic about the prospects.

Hobson said funding for the program has been put in jeopardy because the Bush administration, in requesting the funds, linked the remaining $749 million to Congress passing separate legislation on how lawmakers use a special nuclear waste fund for the Yucca project.

Congress has used that fund, which totals nearly $15 billion, to help shrink the federal deficit. There is little prospect that the legislation offered by the administration will pass this year.

Given the tight budget situation, Hobson could not find the money elsewhere, so Yucca Mountain funding for the 2005 fiscal year, beginning in October, was limited to the $131 million allocated for defense waste.

The government wants to use Yucca Mountain to bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste, including used reactor fuel now held at power plants in 31 states as well as defense waste.

Next year is pivotal for the program. The Energy Department will begin the process for getting a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and developing a transportation plan for the waste.

Margaret Chu, director of the Energy Department office that heads the program, has said if the agency does not get the full $880 million it would be impossible to meet the 2010 deadline for accepting the first load of waste.

The Bush administration has always relied on the House to come up with money for Yucca Mountain and counter problems in the Senate, where Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, an ardent Yucca opponent, is in the leadership and can sidetrack legislation or keep funding down.