Bid to redirect Yucca funding to nuclear fuel recycling rejected

WASHINGTON -- A bid to steer $25 million away from the Yucca Mountain project to nuclear fuel research was rejected in Congress on Wednesday.

An amendment by Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., was derailed by House leaders who made a procedural ruling that it was out of place on a fiscal 2012 spending bill for the Department of Energy.

Heck proposed redirecting $20 million into research on nuclear fuel recycling and processes to convert highly radio­active waste into more manageable forms.

Another $2.5 million would have been directed to the state of Nevada for nuclear waste oversight. A similar sum would be divided among Nevada counties.

Heck's amendment effectively would have zeroed out the $25 million that Republican leaders included in the Energy Department bill to develop Yucca Mountain into a waste repository over the objections of the Obama administration.

Heck said the premise of burying nuclear waste is outdated and will be eclipsed by emerging technologies that aim to reprocess the spent fuel for further use in nuclear reactors.

"Sticking our country's nuclear waste in a hole in the ground is a 20th century solution," Heck said. "Instead, we should encourage the use of 21st century technology."

Heck's amendment did not specify that the research on fuel recycling should take place in Nevada. But during a short debate, he made it clear he wanted the state to play a role.

In a state suffering from high un­employment, " the fact is that this 21st century solution has the potential to create, in a single generation, no less than 10,000 direct new R&D jobs," he said.

While opposing Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste burial, Heck favors seeking a new role for the site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The proposal has not advanced far in the state, where senior leaders including U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., have said they will fight any plan that would bring high-level nuclear waste into Nevada.

Debate came as the House considered a $30.6 billion spending bill for the Department of Energy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and smaller energy and water agencies.