Congressional lawmakers called for a departure from the “either/or” thinking on interim storage or Yucca Mountain yesterday during speeches made at the Nuclear Energy Assembly Conference in Washington D.C. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) indicated that this type of thought process on nuclear waste policy “does not allow nuclear energy to grow,” she said. “This is not an either/or proposition,” Murkowski said. “I am and have always been a strong supporter of Yucca, but I also recognize we need more than Yucca. We need to have the opportunity for more, and that is what our legislation will allow.”
Murkowski introduced, along with Sens. Maria Cantwell (D- Wash.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), legislation earlier this year that would revamp the nation’s nuclear waste policy, including the addition of interim storage. Murkowski said yesterday that her committee will hold a hearing on the bill next month. “I hope that we can have a good vibrant conversation on the backend of the fuel cycle, and really, going forward, the future of nuclear power in this country,” Murkowski said on the hearing.
Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), who is the Ranking Member on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, also echoed Murkowski’s charge to adopt a compromised approach to nuclear waste disposal. “We have at a number of times, I think, scared the industry because we supported interim storage,” he said. “We supported it not to the detriment of Yucca because we fully supported Yucca, but if it happened, it was in the distant future. We need to do something now, as well. We need a policy that compromises, in that we look at the long view and do something now. For the last several years, it has been either/or. I do hope that there will be that change this year to proceed because we have that responsibility to make decisions.”
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