Bill Would Give Utilities, Customers Yucca Mountain 'Rebates'

> Apr 23 - McClatchy Washington Bureau
>
> A bill introduced Thursday would provide "rebates" from a $30
> billion fund to build the stalled Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste
> repository in Nevada.
>
> Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the bill's sponsor, criticized
> President Barack Obama for his decision to mothball the Yucca Mountain
> project, which the federal government has been developing for two
> decades over intense opposition from Nevada politicians,
> environmentalists and other groups.
>
> "No one should be required to pay for an empty hole in the Nevada
> desert," Graham said. "The decision by the Obama administration to
> close Yucca Mountain was ill-advised and leaves our nation without a
> disposal plan for spent nuclear fuel or Cold War waste."
>
> The $3.5 trillion budget Obama sent Congress on Feb. 26 slashed
> funding for developing the waste repository, 100 miles northwest of
> Las Vegas.
>
> Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat and a key
> Obama ally, has vowed to block any bid to build the waste site deep
> under Yucca Mountain.
>
> Obama campaigned against the repository during his White House
> run last year, promising to explore alternatives that have long eluded
> state and federal governments.
>
> Energy Secretary Steven Chu "has made it clear that nuclear
> energy needs to be part of our energy mix," said Dan Leistikow, an
> Energy Department spokesman. "He will be appointing a blue-ribbon
> panel of scientists and other experts to develop a thoughtful,
> responsible and comprehensive solution to our waste storage needs."
>
> The Graham bill, co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain, the 2008
> Republican presidential nominee, and seven other Republican senators,
> would require Obama, within 30 days of its passage, to "certify that
> Yucca remains the preferred choice to serve as the federal repository
> for spent nuclear fuel and defense-related nuclear waste."
>
> Dozens of states have waste in temporary storage at nuclear power
> plants. South Carolina, Washington, Idaho and several other states
> have large amounts of additional waste at massive federal complexes
> that built nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
>
> Electric utility consumers have been paying monthly surcharges to
> help finance the Yucca repository, contributing more than $30 billion
> during the past decade.
>
> Under the Graham measure, if Obama doesn't certify Yucca within
> 30 days, utilities would start getting rebates, with the requirement
> to pass on three-quarters of the refunds to their customers and use
> the remainder for plant upgrades.
>
> The Graham bill also would mandate separate federal payments of
> up to $100 million a year to states with nuclear weapons waste,
> starting in 2017, when the Yucca central repository had been scheduled
> to start accepting it.
>
> The rebates would go to utilities and residents in the 31 states
> that have nuclear power plants.
>
> Utilities already have won $1 billion in court judgments against
> the federal government because of its failure to honor contracts that
> promised to begin moving the nuclear waste to Yucca in 1998.
>
> ___
>
> CO-SPONSORS
>
> Sen. John McCain of Arizona
>
> Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida
>
> Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina
>
> Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia
>
> Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia
>
> Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina
>
> Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma
>
> Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
>
> ___
>
> ON THE WEB
>
> Residents of these 31 states with nuclear power plants have paid
> extra fees to build a central waste repository:
> http://tinyurl.com/cstema