nuclear-news

States threatening to halt payments if U.S. cancels Yucca Mountain

States threatening to halt payments if U.S. cancels Yucca Mountain  Tghe New York Times  By KATHERINE LING, GreenwireApril 8, 2009

Several legislatures of states with nuclear power plants are considering stopping or reducing payments to the federal government for nuclear waste management until the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nev., repository opens or another solution to the waste problem emerges.

Since the February release of President Obama’s budget blueprint, which signaled the likely demise of the Yucca Mountain plan, pro-nuclear lawmakers in Congress have grumbled about the uncertainty such a move would bring. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for one, threatened to promote a measure to return waste-removal fees paid by electric ratepayers.

But at least four states are trying now to take matters into their own hands.
Maine lawmakers passed a resolution yesterday asking the federal government to immediately reduce fees paid by electricity customers for managing spent nuclear fuel. The resolution also urges the expedited establishment of two federally licensed interim storage facilities that would take possession of the waste and create an independent panel to assess the long-term prospects for handling military and civilian nuclear wastes.

Since 1982, U.S. nuclear-power ratepayers have paid a tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour into a federal fund that now holds about $30 billion. The fund can be used only to build the repository.

The Department of Energy has spent about $13.5 billion on the Yucca Mountain project since 1983 and had contracted with utilities to begin taking spent fuel in 1998. The partial breach of contracts leaves DOE liable for about $11 billion based on plans for the repository opening in 2020. That liability would escalate for each year the waste is not removed from nuclear plant sites, DOE says………………..Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the nuclear industry’s policy arm  said Maine’s frustration may be just the beginning of a national revolt.

States threatening to halt payments if U.S. cancels Yucca Mountain – NYTimes.com

April 9, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA