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Utah Senator Backs Plan to Keep Waste Out of Yucca
U.S. Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah) is set to join Nevada lawmakers in opposing a plan to move nuclear waste from locations across the country to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site in Nevada, the Salt Lake Tribune reported today (see GSN, Aug. 23). This is a change of position for Bennett, who formerly supported storing nuclear waste in the mountain, according to the Tribune. “However much the idea of a single repository may have made sense decades ago, it's now clear that it does not make sense and we need to move in some future direction,” Bennett said yesterday on the Senate floor. Bennett said yesterday he doubts that Yucca Mountain would ever become a nuclear storage site. Nevada leaders have “earned the right to say to the rest of us, ‘I told you so,’” Bennett said. “I say I will be happy to join with you, too, in seeing how we can think this thing through and get the best solution for our nation and all of those who live here.” Nevada Senators Harry Reid (D) and John Ensign (R) are pushing a plan to keep waste from being sent to Yucca Mountain from 65 U.S. nuclear plants. The plan would also mandate that the U.S. government reconsider the option of reprocessing the waste, according to the Tribune. “The momentum is shifting and the timing is right to address our nuclear waste challenges in a way that offers real, long-term solutions,” Reid said in a floor speech. “I have spent 20 years fighting the absurd idea that massive quantities of deadly nuclear waste can be transported across thousands of miles. I look forward to joining forces with Senator Bennett as we work to protect our states, the West and the nation” (Fahys/Gehrke, Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 21).
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