WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) -- The Senate will almost certainly vote next week a bill to override Nevada's opposition to the proposed nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., a Yucca opponent, normally schedules legislation. The provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1987, which directed the Department of Energy to study only Yucca Mountain as a possible long-term storage site, give any senator the ability to call up the bill, however.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other lawmakers have suggested other senators should not usurp Daschle's prerogative, however. Senate staffers, speaking on condition of anonymity, told United Press International at least one member will call for the bill when Congress reconvenes following Independence Day -- perhaps as early as Tuesday, the first day back from recess. The Senate must act on the bill by July 27 in order for Yucca preparations to proceed.
Quoting senators' unofficial statements, staffers told UPI at least 51 senators, the simple majority needed on the Yucca vote, will either support the bill fully or have promised to avoid being the 51st vote to defeat the measure.
The vote is likely to be that close, said Jerry Taylor, who analyzes energy and environmental issues as director of Natural Resource Studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank.
"My sense is that the Nevada delegation will probably fail," Taylor told UPI. "Short of seceding from the union, lawsuits are the only chance they have left."
The House of Representatives already has approved its override of the Yucca measure. If the Senate does the same, the Department of Energy eventually will submit a licensing application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Because administrative bodies such as the NRC are political creatures, Taylor noted, they are unlikely to go against the grain of demonstrated support from the White House and Capitol Hill. Things also appear stacked against Nevada in the judicial branch, he said.
"Courts seem to defer to legislative bodies on questions like this if there's any ambiguity regarding stipulations to be met and whatnot in prior law," Taylor said.
Even in the unlikely event of the bill's defeat, Nevada still would fall short of total victory, Taylor said. The nuclear waste act's provisions are somewhat unclear on what actions the Bush administration could take, he said, but the White House probably would be on safe legal ground to resume scientific examination of the site. This would push further decisions on the project into the next administration, he explained.
The apparent overwhelming tide of Yucca support should not be viewed as vindication for the DOE nor a repudiation of Nevada's opposition, Taylor said. "Nevada might be right, but for the wrong reasons." he said.
Long-term burial of spent nuclear fuel might not be the best option for dealing with the waste, Taylor said. Spent fuel rods retain a great deal of enriched uranium and even plutonium, so they could be recycled to provide additional power, he said.
Japan and France already take this approach, he said, and Russia has expressed interest in accepting foreign spent fuel in order to reprocess it. Worries about the possible spread of weapons-grade nuclear material are exaggerated to some degree, Taylor said, given the technical difficulties of separating such elements from the complicated chemical mix of spent fuel.
