Global Security Newswire
Daily News on Nuclear, Biological & Chemical Weapons, Terrorism and Related Issues
Funding Slashed for Yucca Mountain Repository
A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee yesterday designated only $131 million of the $880 million requested for development in fiscal 2005 of the Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository in Nevada (see GSN, May 14).
The funding cut could delay the facility’s planned opening in 2010, the Associated Press reported.
“I think we have an obligation to get (the facility) opened and funded,” said Representative David Hobson (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. “But I don’t have the tools right now to get that done,” he added.
The Energy Department sought the funding to begin obtaining permits and preparing designs for the facility, and to develop transportation plans for the 77,000 tons of nuclear power and defense waste to be stored there, AP reported.
The Bush administration linked the remaining Yucca money to separate legislation on congressional use of a nuclear waste fund. That bill is not expected to pass this year, and Hobson said he could not find the money elsewhere (H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 9).
Subscribe to GSN
NTI Analysis
-
Managing Interagency Nonproliferation Efforts: Are We Effectively Securing Nuclear Materials Around the World?
March 15, 2012
Page Stoutland discusses the need to develop a global consensus on priorities for securing weapons-usable nuclear materials worldwide.
-
Remarks at the Launch of the NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index
Jan. 11, 2012
NTI co-chairman Sam Nunn addresses the media at a press conference to launch the NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index.
Country Profile
United States
This article provides an overview of the United States’ historical and current policies relating to nuclear, chemical, biological and missile proliferation.
