Yucca Mountain News Clips
Friday, June 30, 2006
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 30, 2006
YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Senate panel cuts requested funding
Legislation questions redesign of repository
By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee Thursday cut next year's spending for Yucca Mountain as it raised questions about how the proposed nuclear waste repository is being redesigned.
The Appropriations Committee said it was withholding support for the redesign until the Department of Energy provides a clear picture of how used nuclear fuel would be packaged at reactors and then managed at the repository site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The panel approved $494.5 million for Yucca Mountain in a DOE spending bill for 2007, $50 million less than the Bush administration requested.
In a report with the bill, senators told the department to limit spending on a planned waste canister handling complex at the Yucca site and on transportation activities. The agency was told not to increase spending beyond this year's levels on other components of the redesign.
"The committee is concerned that the department is redesigning the repository with significant changes," the committee said. The changes, with delays in the program, "have forced the committee to reconsider the project's budget needs."
The bill calls for an audit by the Government Accountability Office of the Energy Department's budget for Yucca Mountain.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., an Appropriations Committee senior member and a repository opponent, wrote parts of the legislation that was approved by the panel Thursday and sent on to the full Senate.
The GAO audit request grew from a Clark County study earlier this year that suggested DOE might be budgeting for engineering tasks that are "premature" considering the site has not been licensed, a Reid aide said.
The Yucca Mountain go-slow directive is in the same bill that authorizes the energy secretary to designate sites for temporary spent fuel storage in states that have nuclear power plants.
The bill approved the $250 million the Bush administration requested for 2007 for a nuclear waste reprocessing initiative called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
The parts of the bill dealing with waste "acknowledge that the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear dump is failing and that we must look at other solutions," Reid said.
DOE officials in October started a redesign for handling radioactive spent fuel at reactor sites and at the proposed Yucca facility.
The department wants to develop multipurpose "transportation, aging and disposal" canisters that would enable the material to be packaged, shipped and placed within the mountain.
While the canisters could simplify operations at Yucca, they said, most of the waste handling would take place at reactors where the material would be inserted into the containers.
The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, an independent science panel, said in a June 14 letter that the department faces hurdles to make the canisters available in time for licensing and use by utilities.
Board members questioned how the containers would get to Yucca Mountain if the agency is delayed in building a railroad line to the site.
They said the department was unable to provide enough details at a May 9 presentation of how the waste would be handled once it arrived at the Nevada site.
The spending bill that advanced Thursday contained other Nevada funding.
It granted $2 million to the state for Yucca Mountain oversight, while nine Nevada counties and Inyo County in California would split $7.5 million. Nye County would be given an additional $500,000 as the repository host county.
The Senate bill restores $22.5 million for geothermal development in Nevada and the West that had been omitted by the Bush administration.
The bill contains more than $350 million in earmarks for Nevada energy and water projects, spending at the Nevada Test Site, restoration at Walker Lake and Lake Tahoe, and research grants to universities, Reid's office said.
The House passed a corresponding bill in May that contains full funding for Yucca Mountain, cuts Global Nuclear Energy Partnership spending to $120 million and takes another approach to interim waste storage.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
June 30, 2006
Reid slashes Yucca Mountain funding
Washington, D.C. "" U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) has once again sliced the budget for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump to a level far below what proponents had hoped for.
Reid is the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, which today approved a bill that would provide $494 million for the Yucca Mountain project in fiscal year 2007 "" slightly less than this year's $500 million budget.
Reid, Nevada's leading opponent of Yucca Mountain, has kept the project's budget at the same level for three years now, without even increases to offset inflation. President Bush had asked for $50 million more for Yucca than the amount in the Senate bill, and the Department of Energy estimates it would need twice as much to keep the project on schedule.
"The Yucca Mountain nuke dump has been riddled with scientific, health, and safety problems from the beginning," said Reid. "I don't believe the dump will ever open. I think anything spent on Yucca is a waste of money, so I'm pleased we were able to keep the funding levels low, although it's a shame we're throwing any good taxpayer money after bad."
In addition, the $494 million budget for next year includes $10 million that would actually be used for a different project "" a plan to create interim storage sites outside of Nevada.
The measure contains language instructing the Department of Energy to work with states that have nuclear reactors to identify the need for, and location of, interim storage sites within those states or regions. Nuclear waste could be stored at those sites for 25 years. The bill upholds the conditions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which specifies that no interim storage can be placed in Nevada.
"My goal is on-site, dry cask storage of nuclear waste. While this bill does not fully accomplish that personal goal of mine, it is a significant step in the right direction," said Reid. "This measure will give us time to study the problem of nuclear waste and work towards a solution that is safe and viable. It's a good bipartisan compromise."
The FY '07 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill also requires a General Accounting Office audit of the Yucca Mountain budget money.
The audit would ensure that all appropriated money is spent in accordance with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
The full Committee was expected to approve the Senate bill Thursday.
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Las Vegas SUN
June 30, 2006
Senate committee cuts spending on Nevada nuclear waste dump
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A U.S. Senate committee voted to cut spending for a national nuclear waste repository in Nevada and raised questions about how the Yucca Mountain project was being redesigned.
The Appropriations Committee on Thursday allocated $494.5 million for the project in an Energy Department spending bill for 2007, $50 million less than the Bush administration requested.
Committee members said they wanted more information from the Energy Department about how used nuclear fuel would be packaged at reactors and managed at the repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a senior Appropriations Committee member and a Yucca Mountain repository opponent, wrote parts of the legislation - including a call for a Government Accountability Office audit of the project's budget.
In a budget report, senators told the Energy Department to limit spending on repository transportation activities and a planned waste canister handling complex at the Yucca site, and to hold spending below this year's levels on other redesign components.
"The committee is concerned that the department is redesigning the repository with significant changes," the committee said, adding that the changes and delays in the program, "have forced the committee to reconsider the project's budget needs."
The GAO audit request grew out of a Clark County study earlier this year that suggested the Energy Department might be budgeting for engineering tasks that are "premature" considering the site has not been licensed, a Reid aide said.
The Yucca Mountain "go-slow" directive is in a bill that authorizes Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to designate sites for temporary spent fuel storage in states that have nuclear power plants.
The bill approved the $250 million the Bush administration requested for 2007 for a nuclear waste reprocessing initiative called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
The parts of the bill dealing with waste "acknowledge that the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear dump is failing and that we must look at other solutions," Reid said.
DOE officials in October started redesigning its plans for handling radioactive spent fuel at reactor sites and at the proposed Yucca facility.
Congress in 2002 approved the Energy Department plan to entomb 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive waste at the Yucca site.
The department wanted to open the dump in 2010, but allegations that government scientists skirted quality control requirements and a federal court's invalidation of the government's proposed radiation safety standards have pushed back the opening date.
The department now says it hopes to open the repository by 2020, but won't give an exact date.
Officials say they plan to apply for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license in the 2008 fiscal year - a decade after the federal government was contractually obligated to begin accepting spent fuel from nuclear utilities.
---Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
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North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
June 30, 2006
Nevada to be well represented in Congress
Jim Clark
special to The Bonanza
Republicans from Incline Village/Crystal Bay got a chance to witness something you don't often see anywhere in the
The 2nd District was formed after the 1980 census and the seat was held for fourteen years by Barbara Vucanovich (R Ð Reno) and for ten years by Jim Gibbons (R Ð Reno) who now seeks to be Nevada's governor. Running to succeed him are his wife, Dawn Gibbons, Incline's Assemblywoman Sharon Angle and Nevada's Secretary of State, Dean Heller. All three came to the Crystal Bay Club a couple of weeks ago seeking Republican votes.
Dawn Gibbons' "hot button" campaign promises are to simplify the federal tax code and curtail federal spending. She proposes a "contract with Nevadans" which, among other things, promises immigration reform, support for the military and shutting down Yucca Mountain. She is pro choice.
Dean Heller spent one term in the Nevada Assembly and was elected Secretary of State in 1994, a position he has held for 12 years. He is focused on immigration, taxes and problems of growth within Nevada. Heller would oppose any form of amnesty but would support a documented worker program for Latinos. He would ease pressures to raise taxes by reining in spending, particularly authorization of "pork" projects which get stuck into legislation when no one is looking. Heller is pro choice.
Sharron Angle (she calls herself the "Right" Angle) has the broadest platform which includes reducing income and property taxes, expansion of domestically produced alternative energy supplies, support for the military and the War on Terror, a secure border, free market principles in healthcare, property rights and education and finally the right of the unborn to life.
What a surprise ... Republican candidates sounding like Republican candidates. Does their past performance tell us anything about their expected behavior if elected? Dawn Gibbons served two non-successive terms in Nevada's Assembly, the first to fill out Jim Gibbons' term when he volunteered for active duty in the first Gulf War, the second from 2002 to 2004. Although Gibbons voted to restrain spending she was one of only three Republicans to vote in favor of the 2003 tax increase bill.
Dean Heller's three terms as Secretary of State do not tell us much about where he would stand philosophically among congressional Republicans when the tough votes come. He did serve a term as Chairman of the TRPA Governing Board where he became a champion of adopting a regulation which requires homes visible from the Lake to have minimal windows, muted colors and heavy vegetation. That did not sit well with property owners.
Sharron Angle has the longest voting history of any of the contenders and it is rock solid anti-tax and anti-spend. She won an early endorsement from the Washington DC Club for Growth which brought her nationwide support for her campaign.
Polls show Dawn Gibbons with a slight lead over Heller and Angle but there are still a great number of undecided GOP voters. Both Gibbons and Heller have greater name identification than Angle but pundits who have seen Angle's campaign prowess know better than to ever count her out.
Whatever the outcome Northern Nevada will be well represented in the next Congress.
Jim Clark is President of Republican Advocates of Incline Village/Crystal Bay and a vice chair of the Washoe County Republican Party
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Peacock Report
June 30, 2006
DoE Turns to Industry Contractors For 'Independent' Audits of Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Project
Several "independent" assessments of plans to build a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada are being pursued by the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DoE), which requires Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval prior to constructing the centralized waste site. According to new planning documents that TPR has obtained, DoE is seeking private-sector help on multiple fronts in a decades-old attempt by the department to develop and then open an underground storage facility for nationwide shipments of nuclear waste. DoE in recent days posted "pre-solicitation notices" to an accessible government-contracting database, alerting so-called independent auditors to a soon-to-be-announced formal request for bids; however, a closer look at the documents reveal DoE´s explicit need to bring aboard "people with commercial nuclear power senior management experience" to serve on the audit teams, thereby raising questions about the level of independence that these assessments will provide.
One of the upcoming audits will review the technical plans of Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC (BSC), a corporate entity that contracting giants Bechtel and Science Applications International Corp. jointly formed in order to manage the Yucca Mountain Repository. This auditing action will assess "the adequacy and efficiency of the engineering processes and procedures" used by BSC as well as by DoE´s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), according to the June 28 document.
A separate audit will attempt to "determine the adequacy" of quality assurance programs, or QAPs, "in their design and implementation" by Bechtel SAIC as well as OCRWM. This auditing team will determine whether the QAPs meets the requirements of 10CFR50, Appendix B (Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and Fuel Reprocessing Plants).
A third audit focuses on DoE´s draft radioactive waste-disposal license application, a version of which the department eventually will file with NRC. This particular contract action seeks to assemble a team of experts capable of reviewing "the entire license application and repository design" and subsequently providing DoE with a report that recommends "solutions to problems or inadequacies found during the assessment." The review team must ensure that the draft application and repository design satisfy applicable NRC regulations, specifically Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes In a Geologic Repository At Yucca Mountain, Nevada (10 CFR 63), and The Yucca Mountain Review Plan (NUREG 1804).
The Bush Administration has touted the future development of the Yucca Mountain site as an effective means of safeguarding the nation´s nuclear waste in a single location, rather than through many sites across the country, as is currently the case. This approach will lessen the possibility that the dangerous material could end up in the hands of thieves or terrorists, the Administration argues. Critics of the plan, such as Public Citizen, claim that "transportation routes to Yucca Mountain, by rail, road and barge, would pass through as many as 44 states and the District of Columbia, putting the dangerous waste within half a mile of 50 million people." The group also points out that the spent fuel must temporarily remain on-site at reactors where it is produced, because the material is so highly radioactive that it cannot be moved for five years. Consequently, there never can be just one national storage site as the Administration claims, it says.
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Senate Committee on Appropriations
June 29, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Jenny Manley (Appropriations) (202) 224-6404
Chris Gallegos (Sen. Domenici) (202) 224-7098
Committee Approves Energy and Water Appropriations Bill
WASHINGTON – Today the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a $30.7 billion Energy and Water Appropriations bill. New funding is provided for weapons systems and for the advancement of energy initiatives authorized by the National Energy Policy Act of 2005.
The $30.7 billion measure is $1.25 billion over the budget request, and provides $24.7 billion for the Department of Energy (a $650 million increase), $5.13 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers ($406 million increase), $1.06 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation ($143 million increase), and $306.3 million for independent agencies ($57 million increase).
Within DOE funding, the bill contains $9.25 billion, $58 million below the budget request but $152 million over FY2006, for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Within NNSA funding, $6.5 billion is outlined for weapons activities, which is $78 million over the budget request; $1.57 billion for nonproliferation activities, $152 million below the budget request; $4.24 billion for scientific research, $164 million over the budget request to fully fund the President´s American Competitiveness Initiative; $2.3 billion to fund the President´s Advanced Energy Initiative including solar, biomass and nuclear energy, roughly a $380 million increase for energy supply and conservation activities.
The bill will require DOE to initiate the first move of special nuclear material out of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, with the goal of completing total removal by 2012—two years ahead of schedule.
The bill funds the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program, and addresses the accumulation of commercial spent nuclear fuel at existing U.S. reactor sites by establishing a “medium term’ solution. This plan would, among other things, authorize the Energy Secretary to accept spent nuclear fuel at a federally-owned facility for up to 25 years when it can recycled for reuse or stored at Yucca Mountain when it is licensed.
Related to the nuclear waste reprocessing, the bill notes a lack of demonstrated cooperation from Russia on the MOX program, an agreement for the U.S. and Russia to each destroy 34 tons of weapons grade plutonium. The bill directs funding toward accelerating construction of a MOX facility in South Carolina.
The bill provides $380 million to support energy-related activities authorized in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, including, among other things:
· Solar -- $148 million, a $65.5 million increase, which includes $18 million for a solar-hydrogen pilot plant;
· Biomass -- $213 million, a $63 million increase;
· Geothermal -- $22.5 million restored for geothermal research and development;
· Hydropower -- $4.0 million to support advanced hydropower; and,
· Building Technology -- $95.3 million split evenly to support energy conservation demonstration projects and to implement solid state lighting like high-efficiency LED lights.
The bill also provides $25 million support the math and science training for teachers, as intended by the Protecting America´s Competitive Edge (PACE) Act.
The following is a review of the Senate´s FY2007 Energy & Water Development Appropriations Bill:
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – $24.7 billion for DOE, $658 million over the budget request. The budget makes significant investments in the Office of Science as part of the “American Competitive Initiative’ and in the Office of Energy Supply and Conservation to support the “Advanced Energy Initiative’ to find alternatives to foreign oil supplies.
NNSA Weapons Activities: $6.5 billion, a $95 million increase, for weapons activities. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Nevada Test Site, and at plants in Texas, Missouri, Tennessee and South Carolina are involved in this work, including Science-based Stockpile Stewardship campaigns. The bill provides $1.32 billion for Directed Stockpile work, including:
Life Extension Program – Reduced by $82 million as a result of ending life extension work associated with the W80.
Stockpile systems -- $325 million, equal to the budget request.
Stockpile services -- $669.3 million, the same as the budget request.
Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) -- $62.7 million, a $35 million increase, to accelerate the RRW design activities, including $10 million to initiate a second RRW design competition to replace one or more of the existing legacy systems. LANL and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have been key to this effort.
Dismantlement -- $35 million, a $40 million reduction that is tied to the viability of the NNSA to fully dispose of unneeded pits that currently have no disposition pathway—namely a pit disassembly facility (MOX).
Inertial Confinement Fusion and High Yield -- $412 million, down $39 million, as funding for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is reprioritized to fully utilize the Z machine. NIF construction is provided $129 million, a $30 million reduction, with the NNSA instructed to use available contingency funds to complete construction and to find efficiency of operation in installing remaining 180 lasers.
Science Campaign -- $268.7 million, up $5 million above the request, to support research and experiments that are critical to certification of the stockpile.
Engineering Campaign -- $207 million, up $46 million over the budget request, to support to restore engineering capability and support increasing engineering design activities utilizing the MESA facility to design and deploy state-of-the art security and safeguards technology to protect against the unauthorized use of nuclear weapons. MESA funding is provided at $11.5 M and will complete the project.
Advanced Simulation and Computing -- $695 million, up $78 million, to purchase the first petaflop (a billion million calculations per second) computer for the U.S. This will be the fastest computer in the world and will give Los Alamos the capability to simulate complex physics experiments to validate the reliability of the U.S. stockpile, without underground testing.
Pit Manufacturing – $237.6 million, the same as the budget request.
Weapons Readiness -- $205 million, the same as the budget request.
Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities – $1.78 billion, up $95 million, to provide critical funding to support operations and provides salaries to lab employees. LANL CMR-Replacement is fully funded at $112.4 million, and LANL Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility upgrade is fully funded at $14.8 million. Another $7.0 million is provided to initiate pre-engineering design work for the LANL LANCE facility, and $10 million is provided to initiate removal of the special nuclear material from Lawrence Livermore to be completed by 2012.
Secure Transportation -- $209 million, the same as the budget request.
Nuclear Weapons Incident Response -- $135 million, the same as the budget request.
Facility and Infrastructure Recapitalization -- $283.2 million.
Safeguards and Security – $670.7 million, up $5.0 million to provide additional funding for Sandia National Laboratory to encourage the development of technology based security solutions to increase the margin of security and reduce costs.
Nuclear Nonproliferation – $1.57 billion, $153 million below the request.
Nonproliferation Detection and Verification R&D - $282 million, up $14 million, to support long-term research into chemical and biological detection.
International Materials Control - $427 million, a $14 million increase over FY2005, to support the purchase, deployment and testing of MPOND mobile scanner to seek out nuclear material that may be smuggled aboard cargo containers.
Fissile Material Disposition (MOX) – $653 million, up $15 million, reflecting the shift of funding requested for the EWGPP program being applied to the construction of the MOX fuel fabrication facility in Savannah River, S.C. The Committee believes that the State Department and DoE should continue to negotiate with the Russian on an acceptable solution to destroy 34 tons of plutonium from each of the U.S. and Russian stockpiles. In the meantime, the Committee encourages the U.S. to proceed with construction of the U.S. plant without waiting for Russia. If the Russian plan to burn plutonium in an advanced reactor is viable, this could put Russia ahead of the U.S. in the near future. (MOX construction funding is up $50 M.)
Global Threat Reduction Initiative – $116.8 million, up $10 million, to accelerate offsite recovery of radiation sources and foreign capabilities that could be used to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Defense Environmental Cleanup – $5.47 billion, up $88 million over the budget request. This includes:
Los Alamos – $141 million, up $50 million to restore funding to FY2006 levels. Bill language has been included directing DOE to fund any penalties incurred from failure to meet the cleanup requirements from program direction.
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) -- $232.27 million, up $19 million above the request. This includes $139.0 million for WIPP operations, including $7 million added remote handled waste activities and $23 million for the central characterization project. The bill provides $32.9 million for state transportation needs related to WIPP and $37 million for community and regulatory support (a $12 million increase reflects $3.5 million to support economic development; $5 million for a digital record center for WIPP archives, $2 million to support Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management, and $1.5 million for neutrino research).
Office of River Protection (Hanford) Washington – $964 million, as requested, despite poor execution, prolonged delays and engineering challenges. The bill provides full funding for the Waste Treatment Plant ($690 million). This proposal does not endorse the House position to shift regulatory oversight responsibilities to the NRC.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. -- $179.2 million, up $19.3 million.
Idaho National Lab – $512 million, as requested.
Savannah River – $1.084 billion, as requested.
Other DOE Defense Activities -- $731.8 million, up $14 million:
Safeguards and Security -- $295.8 million, the same as the budget request.
Environment, Safety and Health -- $94.8 million, a $14 million increase that is to be used to support worker health and testing programs at the various DOE facilities.
Legacy Management -- $167.8 million, the same as the budget request, to manage site closeout activities, including site monitoring, pension and health care costs.
Non-Defense Environmental Management -- $310 million, the same as the budget request.
Nuclear Waste Disposal/Yucca Mountain: $494 million, consistent with FY2006 funding. The bill authorizes the Energy Secretary to create a Director of Consolidation with the goal of finding a temporary, consolidated storage for spent fuel within a state or regional site.
DOE would take title for the spent fuel and move it to another non-reactor site owned by the federal government or purchased from a willing seller.
Requires the Secretary to designate a site within 270 days of enactment.
Provides for expedited review of license application for a term not to exceed 25 years.
Permits the Secretary to utilize the Nuclear Waste Fund to finance temporary storage.
Legislates the Waste Confidence rule, which is important for new license or expansion of existing plant license.
Power Marketing Administration (PMA) – Fully funds Southeast PMA, Western PMA, and provides language added to protect ratepayers from budget gimmicks that increase rates.
Independent Agencies – $308.3 million, up $59.5 million:
Appalachian Regional Commission – $65.5 million, as requested, and including language requiring any earmarks be taken against the total state allocation in which the earmark was taken. This is intended to prevent one state from taking more than is due that state under the ARC allocation.
Delta Regional Authority -- $12 million, a $6 million increase.
Denali Commission -- $50 million, a $47.5 million increase over the budget request.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission – $808 million, up $40 million above the request, to support additional personnel and office space needed to meet the increasing demands associated with new nuclear plant licenses the NRC expects in the next year.
Energy Supply and Conservation – $2.29 billion, up $370.7 million to fund energy initiatives authorized in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT):
Biomass -- $213 million, a $63 million increase, to support commercial demonstration of cellulosic ethanol production using grant funding or Section 17 loan guarantees.
Solar – $148 million to fully fund the President´s request and provide $9 million to support solar demonstration of pilot scale facility at Sandia National Laboratories.
Hydropower -- $4 million to support research goals of new advanced hydropower (EPACT Sec. 931).
Industrial Technology -- $47.5 million, in addition to $2 million provided for R&D to support increased energy efficient computer chips at Sandia National Lab in collaboration with Intel.
Geothermal – $22.5 million restored to continue geothermal R&D.
Vehicles Technology – $180 million to fully fund FreedomCAR and provide a $3 million increase for the Clean Cities initiative to encourage deployment of clean fuel infrastructure.
Buildings Technology – $95.3 million, an increase of $26 million with a directive for DOE to accelerate goals for a zero energy home in five to seven year from 2025 goals. The bill provides $5 million to support a nationwide design competition of such homes EPACT Sec. 140), and another $5 million implement solid state lights and research into LED lights (EPACT Sec. 912).
Weatherization Activities -- $204.5 million, including $200 million (a $40.4 million increase) to fund the weatherization grant program. It also provides $49.5 million to fund the State Energy Program.
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (EDER) -- $135 million, up $10 million, which includes: $45.5 million to fully fund high-temperature superconducting wire R&D; $10 million for Sandia and Idaho National Lab energy infrastructure security R&D.
Nuclear Energy -- $711 million, up $151.5 million, including:
University Reactor Infrastructure and Education Initiative -- $27 million to restore funding for the university R&D program;
Nuclear Power 2010 -- $88 million, a $34 million increase, for NP2010 to accelerate the new plan design licensing program with the NRC;
Next Generation Nuclear Plant -- $40.0 million, and an additional $17 million to support R&D at Idaho National Lab of high temperature gas reactor.
Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) -- $250 million, plus $36 million for facilities upgrades—including $10 million for the LANL CMR Wing 9 hot cells, and $5 million for LANSCE materials test station at LANL. (Regarding GNEP, bill language is included requiring the spent fuel recycling demonstration facility only accept enough spent fuel to demonstrate R&D capability to ensure that new GNEP demonstration does not become permanent interim repository.)
Fossil Energy -- $644 million, up $174 million over the budget request, including:
Clean Coal Power Initiative -- $70 million, up $65 million above the budget request. This includes $50 million provided from the rescission of previously awarded non-performing grants, in addition to $20 million in new funds.
Carbon Sequestration R&D -- $90 million, an $18 million increase, with $10 million for LANL.
Natural Gas R&D -- $17 million to support R&D methane hydrates research (EPACT Sec. 968), despite the budget request that funding be eliminated.
Oil Technology -- $10 million to be applied to oil shale and tar sands R&D (EPACT Sec. 369), another program targeted for elimination in the budget request.
Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves -- $39.8 million, up $21 million including $10 million to support oil shale and tar sands R&D (EPACT Sec. 369) and $2 million for LANL to carry out an environmental impact assessment.
Energy Information Administration -- $93 million, a $3.2 million increase, to support additional surveys on ethanol and gasoline market data such as storage and gasoline markets and to safeguard important market data from misuse and computer hacking.
Science -- $4.241 billion, a $139 million increase.
CORPS OF ENGINEERS
The Subcommittee recommends for the Corps of Engineers $5.139 billion, which is $406.4 million above the President´s request. The bill includes funding for the following:
General Investigations - $168.5 million
Construction, General - $2.042 billion
Mississippi River and Tributaries - $450.5 million
Operations and Maintenance - $2.03 billion
Regulatory Program - $168 million
FUSRAP - $140 million
FCCE - $32 million
General Expenses - $164 million
The Subcommittee rejected the Administration proposal to include major project rehabilitations and Endangered Species Act compliance in the O&M account, the “new’ beach policy and the regionalized display of O&M because of a lack of transparency that would result in the budgetary process.
The Subcommittee has expanded the display of the General Investigations budget to provide greater budget transparency. The Committee recommendation includes revised reprogramming guidance to allow the Corps more flexibility in the civil works program. The Committee directs that decision-making for reprogramming and contracting decisions should be made at the lowest possible levels within the organization.
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION (DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR)
The Committee recommendation for the Bureau of Reclamation includes $1.027 billion, an increase of $143.57 million above the budget request. The Subcommittee includes the following funding:
Water and Related Resources - $888.99 million
Central Valley Project Restoration Fund - $41.478 million
California Bay-Delta Restoration - $38.610 million
Policy and Administration - $58.069 million
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Hampton Union
June 30, 2006
New storage for nuke waste
By Susan Morse
smorse@seacoastonline.com
SEABROOK -- FPL Energy Seabrook Station is expected to begin building dry storage for its nuclear waste next year.
Dry on-site storage has been planned for some time, said spokesman Al Griffith, not only in Seabrook, but at other power plants owned by what Griffith called the FPL nuclear fleet. The fleet includes plants in Florida at St. Lucie and Turkey Point under the control of Florida Power & Light.
As lawsuits have delayed the federal government's planned central depository for spent fuel assemblies at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, nuclear power plants have planned for dry storage on-site.
Spent fuel rod assemblies containing the uranium "pellets" are initially placed in wet storage for cooling for a planned period of five years. Because of the delay in the federal government opening Yucca Mountain, spent fuel pools are filling to capacity. Yucca, even when it does eventually open, won't be ready to receive fuel until at least 2015.
"About half of U.S. nuclear power plants use dry storage," Griffith said.
"The issue with spent fuel, the pools were never designed to hold used fuel forever."
Seabrook's will be full by 2009, Griffith said.
Seabrook Station is still early in the process of building dry storage, he said, because the local nuclear power plant is one the country's newest and its pool not yet full. Construction is expected to begin next year and the dry storage operational by 2008.
Dry storage will be a prefabricated concrete unit on a concrete pad. When the fuel assemblies are ready for dry storage, the transfer will be done underwater, into steel reinforced canisters. The canisters will be lifted out, dried, filled with the inert gas helium and placed on a transport vehicle and taken to dry storage.
The technology is tried and proven, Griffith said.
Dry storage is not a new technology, according to Dr. Alireza Haghighat, professor and chairman of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering department of the University of Florida.
"This is common practice right now," he said. "All the reactors are applying to do that (dry storage,) so it's nothing special."
Haghighat said dry storage is a safe form of containment, especially for security.
"This is a huge structure," he said. "If somebody wants to get to it or try to move it, it's not easy. It takes a long time, a lot of major equipment to do that."
Haghighat said the dry storage process, which is designed to withstand natural disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes, has no impact on the environment or people.
--Information from Scripps Howard was used in this story.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 29, 2006
YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Waste plan produces skepticism
Bill calls for temporary sites
By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday it would be a tall order for the Department of Energy to set up as many as 31 temporary nuclear waste sites as proposed in Congress this week.
"I have to tell you as an initial thought the idea of creating 31 sites and getting them licensed would be a formidable undertaking," Bodman said. "We are trying to understand what would be required and our ability as a department to undertake this."
The department has focused on establishing a nuclear waste repository in Nevada, with Bodman saying on previous occasions that the department did not have the authority to relocate used fuel kept at reactors into centralized storage while work continues at the delayed Yucca Mountain site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., advanced a bill Tuesday that would give the agency authority to establish nuclear waste "consolidation" facilities in states that have nuclear reactors. Waste is stored at 103 operating reactors in 31 states and at eight additional plants that have been closed.
Nevada would not be considered for temporary storage under the bill.
Domenici's measure, which he formed with support from Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is expected to take another step forward today when the Senate Appropriations Committee takes up a fiscal 2007 spending bill for the Energy Department and other agencies.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Bodman said he is open to interim nuclear waste storage but still wants Congress to pass legislation that would clear obstacles to DOE's work at Yucca Mountain.
"If Congress wishes to discuss with us the questions of interim storage, which the committee has indicated, we are happy to engage with them," Bodman said.
A DOE bill sent to Congress in April calls for several changes in Yucca Mountain law, some of them controversial. It seeks authority to claim water for the site and asserts powers on nuclear waste shipping that have been opposed by several states.
The bill would transfer 147,000 acres of public land surrounding Yucca Mountain into DOE control and change how the project is funded to allow larger sums to be drawn from a special construction account.
"All of these things are well known to people in the Senate, to Senator Domenici and his colleagues, and we continue to feel strongly this is something that needs to be done," Bodman said.
Bodman declined to confirm the department has set a new 2018 target date for nuclear waste to be accepted at Yucca Mountain, as Domenici said earlier this week.
Bodman said the department will announce new timetables for the delayed program later this summer. A DOE spokesman said the project's new director, Ward Sproat, plans to travel to Nevada within the next several weeks.
Meanwhile, the Domenici interim storage bill has provoked a split among Nevada members of Congress.
Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., support it. Reps. Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons, both R-Nev., and Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., oppose it.
Senate aides said Reid and Ensign think the interim storage plan is a sign that congressional support for Yucca Mountain is faltering and is a step toward keeping nuclear waste stored at reactor sites and out of Nevada.
Ensign "is on board with it," spokesman Jack Finn said. "Anything that gets people considering alternatives (to Yucca Mountain) and talking about storing waste where it is produced is a positive development."
The House members said the bill does nothing to prevent Nevada from becoming the destination for nuclear waste.
The plan still calls for nuclear waste to be dumped near Las Vegas, "so nothing has really changed," Berkley said.
Asked about the split within the group, Berkley said, "there is no question that Senator Reid's bill is another weapon in Nevada's fight against Yucca Mountain, but there are provisions in this legislation that concern me. Moving radioactive waste is too dangerous, and there is no need when it can be safely stored on-site for the next century."
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Las Vegas SUN
June 29, 2006
Nuclear Gamesmanship
Under a plan backed by U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and Pete Domenici, states with nuclear power plants could be responsible for storage of their own nuclear waste for 25 years.
By Lisa Mascaro
Sun Washington Bureau
Las Vegas Sun
WASHINGTON - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid emerged from a hearing room at the Capitol with the quiet satisfaction of a chess player who had executed a stunning maneuver. Then his speech quickened as he explained to reporters that he had worked - secretly for a year, it turns out - with the Senate's leading nuclear energy advocate on a new plan to store nuclear waste.
The toxic material would no longer be stored only at nuclear power plants across the nation. Nor would it be coming to Yucca Mountain, at least not anytime soon.
Instead, under a plan that Reid crafted with Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., any state with commercial nuclear power plants would be a candidate for a nuclear waste storage site somewhere within its borders.
Reid has spent much of his Senate career fighting the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. Nuclear waste is unsafe to ship, he argues, and Yucca would not be a secure, fail-safe location for storage. Now he stood under the glaring hallway lights, surrounded by reporters, and spoke about the chess game:
"I'm being parochial about this. I think it's a tremendous step in the right direction. There'll be no interim storage in Nevada. It will focus attention on why you should just leave it where it is."
To be sure, the Reid-Domenici proposal is meant as a temporary step only - a 25-year solution. Domenici advocated the plan as a way to satisfy the nuclear industry's long-standing desire to move the waste to government-run storage, as Congress promised 20 years ago. Domenici says the waste would sit in those temporary locations until the permanent nuclear dump is ready - if it is ever ready - at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
For Domenici, addressing the storage problem clears the way for the industry to start building nuclear plants. The last one was licensed three decades ago.
Reid sees the chess board differently. The plan to build a string of temporary Yuccas across the country is certain to draw strong protests from the states involved, nudging them to agree with him that the waste should be kept at the plants.
"You can have all the requirements you want to move the waste, but as we've learned with Yucca Mountain, people aren't simply willing to have it moved," Reid said.
Also, said those who watched Reid in action this week, the veteran senator knows that Yucca's future is likely to be overshadowed by debate over the temporary sites.
"No state is going to let this happen," said Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, the state agency fighting Yucca Mountain. "If they want to go around and spend money and time, more power to them. Attention paid to other things and not Yucca Mountain, we think is helpful. Delay is helpful."
Charles Pray, who represents Maine on nuclear issues and heads up a nuclear transportation advocacy group's Yucca Mountain task force, said he could not think of a single governor who would want to house the waste. The Reid-Domenici plan, he said, "is a diversionary scheme."
Reid and Domenici quietly crafted the plan as part of their broader energy package for 2007 - two senior senators who have spent years talking about nuclear policy from opposite sides of the table coming together as the promise of Yucca Mountain falters.
Domenici still argues that Yucca is the long-term solution. But he said this week that it could open no sooner than 2018 , years behind schedule. Even that, he conceded, "may or may not happen."
Reid says it will never open.
Domenici knows that Reid has his own agenda, but sees his colleague, whom he calls his closest friend in the Senate, as an ideal partner precisely because of the battles the two have had over Yucca Mountain.
"Other senators can and do have their own agendas, and absolutely they should," said Marnie Funk, a spokeswoman for a Senate appropriations subcommittee that Domenici heads. "He's committed to building support for this proposal even in unexpected places."
The Reid-Domenici proposal goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee today. It comes as the Bush administration's "fix Yucca" bill languishes on Capitol Hill. Now, rather than fixing Yucca, Congress is poised to debate temporary sites.
"This is clearly a case of frustration with Yucca," Loux said. "It's clear recognition that Yucca is a certainly failed policy, so obviously these folks see the need for interim storage."
Brilliant move or risky strategy, Reid's move provoked outrage from some Yucca opponents. They are angered that Reid would sign off on any plan that opens the door to massive ground shipments of waste for decades to come, even if the shipments are short-haul moves to nearby locations.
Nuclear energy foes argue that the Reid-Domenici plan would clear the way for the nuclear power renaissance the Bush administration advocates as a way to address the nation's energy problems. The federal government has banned construction of power plants until off-site locations are found for storing the waste.
Environmentalists and Yucca opponents see a massive stream of waste from new plants that ultimately would have no place to go other than Yucca.
"It's simply sweeping the waste under the rug and pretending it doesn't exist," Michele Boyd of Public Citizen said.
Edwin Lyman, a physicist and senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, worries that new plants, coupled with Domenici's other controversial goal of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, means the waste stream to Yucca would be unstoppable.
"It's a very dangerous game Reid is playing," he said. "It's going to come back and hurt Nevada."
Even Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., a Reid ally, cannot back the senator's plan. "Certainly in no way could Congresswoman Berkley sign off on any of it," her spokesman said. "The waste should not move."
But Reid is not worried. He knows it will be years before any waste would be moved . And during that time, a repository at Yucca Mountain will be fought every step of the way.
"This is a wonderful deal for the people of Nevada," he said. "I feel very comfortable with what we're doing."
Lisa Mascaro can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at lisa.mascaro@lasvegassun.com.
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Guardian
June 29, 2006
Senate Committee Cuts State, Aid Requests
Andrew Taylor
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate committee on Thursday cut President Bush's request for the State Department and foreign aid by more than $2 billion and shifted the money to flood control, sewer grants, border security and other programs.
The moves are likely to meet with resistance from the White House. The administration objects to such shifts and to a $9 billion cut to Bush's Pentagon budget request, with that money restoring proposed trims in domestic programs.
Meanwhile, the House passed a bill that supports the president's plans to explore Mars and increase spending on research and encouraging science professionals to enter teaching.
This bill passed after three days of debate that touched on everything from medical marijuana laws to the Pacific Northwest's salmon fishery. Along the way, House lawmakers endorsed the Supreme Court's ruling to permit evidence seized in violation of long-standing ``knock and announce'' rules and backed bilingual ballots for people whose native language is not English.
The bill covers the annual budgets of the departments of Commerce, State and Justice, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The measure is the 10th of 11 annual spending bills to pass the House in a tight budget climate where lawmakers bemoan cuts across a wide spectrum of programs. This comes even as GOP core voters worry that Congress plays fast and loose with taxpayers' money.
In the Senate, the Appropriations Committee is just starting to move ahead on its versions of the spending bills.
The committee on Thursday approved:
-a $30.7 billion measure that funds the Energy Department and flood control projects.
-a $31.5 billion measure covering foreign aid and State Department programs.
-a $26.1 billion bill for the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.
-the $32.8 billion budget for the Homeland Security Department.
All signs point to a lame-duck session after the November election because Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has yet to set aside time for the full Senate to consider any spending bills.
The Homeland Security Department, on paper, would get a $700 million budget boost above President Bush's budget plan. But the bill actually translates into a $500 million cut below his request because lawmakers again rejected $1.2 billion in revenues from a proposed increase in airline ticket taxes. The White House wanted to use that money to defray the Transportation Security Administration's budget.
The energy and water projects bill includes $380 million to put in place last year's energy bill, with increases for alternative technologies such as solar energy, biomass and geothermal.
The bill would pay for temporary sites to store nuclear waste for up to 25 years as delays continue at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada.
The Senate's foreign aid bill cuts from $3 billion to $2 billion Bush's request for a program designed to reward developing nations for good governance and a commitment to democracy.
The bill also includes $3.4 billion for programs to battle HIV/AIDS overseas.
The Commerce, Justice and State bill passed by a 393-23 vote. It contains $700 million for Mars exploration, the bulk of which would go to several unmanned missions. Bush, in January 2004, pledged that the United States would return humans to the moon by 2020 and ultimately launch manned flights to Mars and beyond.
The bill gives Bush the money he wants to do that, but grants to state and local law enforcement agencies would be cut for the sixth consecutive year.
On Wednesday, lawmakers approved $2 million for salmon fishermen suffering from a curtailed season because the government is limiting their catch. That was far less than the $81 million West Coast lawmakers want, but they hope to win more later.
Lawmakers also voted to continue to allow federal prosecution of people who smoke marijuana for medical purposes in states with laws that permit it.
In addition, despite the opposition of more than two-thirds of Republicans, the House affirmed the right of voters in areas with large populations of non-English-speaking people to cast ballots in their native language.
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Platts
June 28, 2006
US DOE may work with Congress on interim storage issue: Bodman
Washington (Platts)--28Jun2006
Licensing as many as 31 storage facilities for utility spent nuclear fuel, as proposed in a Senate appropriations bill, "would be a formidable undertaking," Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday.
Speaking at the Platts Energy Podium, Bodman said that while DOE would be interested in working with Congress on the issue of interim storage, he continued to believe that the repository project at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, "is a very important project" and that he believes it will be successful.
The interim storage provisions were included in a $30.73 billion energy and water funding bill for fiscal 2007 that a Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved Tuesday.
Under the bill, away-from-reactor storage facilities could be sited in every one of the 31 states with nuclear power plants or as regional storage facilities. Under the bill, spent fuel would be stored there for up to 25 years before being reprocessed and recycled or shipped to Yucca Mountain for disposal.
DOE and Bodman see this "as a construction effort to increase the expansion of nuclear power in this country," DOE spokesman Craig Stevens said.
---Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com
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Austin Chronicle
June 29, 2006
Will the Nuke Mushroom?
Plans to expand the South Texas (Nuclear) Project, located in Bay City, were announced last Wednesday, amid a national renewal of interest in nuclear power generation, following nearly a quarter century of hostility toward it in America. New Jersey-based NRG Energy Inc., which last year bought a 44% interest in the STP (formerly known as STNP, until the word "nuclear" was dropped from the name), made public its nuclear ambitions, along with plans to develop more coal energy production and wind projects in Texas. Austin Energy owns 16% of the STP but declined to comment on whether it would buy into an expansion.
NRG's statement of intent is a precursor to its actual permit application, one of at least 25 expected by the end of next year, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, though none have been filed so far. Critics believe generous federal incentives offered in the 2005 Energy Policy Act are the only thing fueling renewed interest in nukes, which they say are just as unstable financially and environmentally as they ever were – exacerbating post-9/11 safety concerns and adding to existing piles of toxic waste, currently held on plant sites, with no approved disposal destination on the horizon.
NRG intends to add two new reactors to the STP's existing two, at a cost of $5.2 billion, according to a statement. The company estimates work being completed by 2014. "Texas's demand growth is among the strongest in the nation, and in order to ensure the reliability of electrical service in the region, new plant construction is essential," read NRG's press statement. To build the new reactors, NRG plans to partner with General Electric and Hitachi, whose Advanced Boiling Water Reactors, NRG says, have been proven in design and construction and have a track record of reliable and safe operation in Japan. NRG intends to fund the project's up-front costs largely through power-purchase agreements, bilateral contracts, and other deals with both investor-owned and municipally owned utilities – which, according to NRG's statement, will support the company's existing cash flows and what's known as nonrecourse project financing, or arrangements in which a lender is only entitled to repayment from a project's profits, not from other assets of the borrower. It is believed that NRG filed its letter of intent last week in order to be eligible for tax credits and incentives associated with the Energy Policy Act. NRG didn't return calls requesting an interview.
"If operators had to assume the financial risks for the new plants, there's no way they'd be built," said Luke Metzger of activist group Environment Texas. A press release jointly issued by ET, Public Citizen's Texas State Office, the Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter, and the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition read, "Nuclear power continues to be dependent on taxpayer handouts for survival," and "the risks from radioactive exposure and accidents are enormous and always have been." Paul Gunter of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a longtime opponent of new nukes, said the new plans, including NRG's, "put the taxpayer out in front to absorb the full cost of the project risk," referring to the recently renewed Price-Anderson Act of 1957 (which pools money from utilities and federal funds as a kind of supplemental insurance policy in the event of a major plant accident, and, according to critics, makes taxpayers liable), not to mention government-subsidized construction risk insurance (indemnifying over-budget and past-schedule projects). "If Price-Anderson hadn't been renewed, utilities would've been more reluctant to move forward," said David McIntyre, an NRC spokesman. The STP's 1981 construction was delayed nearly a decade and cost six times more than the projected estimates. Gunter says out-of-control budgets and schedules aren't out of the ordinary for today's nuke projects.
Aside from financial risk, unresolved issues of radioactive waste disposal and site security loom large in the minds of watchdogs. Metzger noted the almost 10 years of delays at the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and the more than 54,000 metric tons of discarded irradiated fuel sitting at plants nationwide. McIntyre said the storage issue is a "matter of national policy" and that the commission is awaiting an application from the Department of Energy for Yucca Mountain. Even if it arrived today, McIntyre said, it would be several years before Yucca Mountain would start accepting waste – something it was originally supposed to begin doing by 1998. Casting doubt on the industry's safety prognosis, a Government Accountability Office review of existing reactors released last week found "significant shortcomings" in NRC efforts to "ensure that issues affecting nuclear plant safety receive the attention their significance warrants." A 2003 Houston Chronicle visit found security at the STP to be lax. A security industry expert who accompanied reporters called it "appalling." And a 2002 internal NRC survey showed that almost half of all employees thought their careers would suffer if they raised safety concerns, and nearly one-third of those who had raised safety concerns felt they had suffered harassment and/or intimidation as a result.
The Energy Policy Act contained $13 billion in new subsidies, tax breaks, and incentives to build new nukes; and from 1947 to 1999, the nuclear industry was given more than $115 billion in subsidies, 25 times more than subsidies for renewable energy, according to an April Public Citizen report. Metzger and his cohorts contend that the need for new power plants can be offset by developing Texas' vast renewable energy potential and instituting better efficiency measures in buildings. Whether renewables will receive a fair portion of government pork ought to be a question asked of campaigning politicians. With Texas' population slated to double in the coming years, we will clearly need more energy. "Do we really want to rely on Homer Simpson technology in making our choices about energy production?" Sierra Club's Donna Hoffman asked.
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State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
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