Yucca Mountain Shutdown

The Obama administration is planning to develop a new plan for long-term disposal of nuclear waste, that is shutting down the controversial Yucca Mountain waste repository site in Nevada.

Las Vegas Review-Journal said:

In the meantime, the nation needs to take a new look at how and where the highly radioactive material is stored, and how ultimately it should be discarded. Presently nuclear waste generated by the nation’s 103 commercial reactors is kept on site, stored in pools of water and oversized above-ground canisters.

The Obama administration’s move to shelve Yucca Mountain has become increasingly controversial on Capitol Hill and among a handful of states that are pressing legal challenges to the decision.

But other groups calls on Congress to keep Yucca Mountain alive:

The groups also call on the Energy Department’s new panel to include Yucca Mountain as part of its study of potential waste disposal options – an option the department has previously said it would keep off the table. The groups want the licensing process for Yucca Mountain to continue before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“Canceling this program, without providing a bona fide alternative path forward remains unacceptable and troubling, particularly to defense and civilian waste communities, taxpayers and future generations who will bear the full burden of this action,” the groups wrote.

The letter was sent to the leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees who are in the process of reviewing President Barack Obama’s 2011 funding requests.

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