February 1, 2010
Budget Will Eliminate Yucca Nuclear Waste Repository, Says Sen. Reid
NY Times

The White House will propose eliminating the budget and office in charge
of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday.

Reid said the administration budget to be unveiled today will merge the
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management with the Office of
Nuclear Energy, and the separate funding stream for Yucca will be
eliminated.

The budget will also state that "the department will take steps to
withdraw the license application in the near future," according to Reid.

"This is great news because it not only prevents Nevada from becoming
the nation's nuclear dumping ground, it also protects hundreds of
communities through which the waste would have had to travel in order to
get to Yucca," Reid said in a statement.

The White House had already promised to significantly decrease the
program's funds, and it appeared the real debate was between Energy
Secretary Steven Chu and the White House Office of Management and Budget
about how much funding is necessary to wind down the project and save
important data. The facility's budget was slashed last year from $288
million to $197 million. DOE has spent more than $13 billion on the
project since 1983.

In preparation of the project's elimination, DOE also announced members
of a "blue ribbon" panel to find alternative solutions to Yucca Mountain
for the nation's nuclear waste last week.


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Easy solution: bury the crap in the yards of the right-wing posters here.