Promises, promises. I, for one think the Obama administration is intent on delivering massive changes.
WASHINGTON - Driving a last nail into a $13.5 billion coffin, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday that the nearly completed Yucca Mountain site in Nevada is no longer an option for storing highly radioactive nuclear waste.
Instead, Chu said, the Obama administration believes the nearly 60,000 tons of waste in the form of used reactor fuel can remain at nuclear power plants while a new, comprehensive plan for waste disposal is developed.
::snip::
"What's wrong with Yucca Mountain, Mr. Chu," McCain asked at an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on support for scientific research.
"I think we can do a better job," replied the Nobel Prize-wining physicist.
McCain asked whether it was true that Obama — as well as Chu — view Yucca Mountain as no longer an option.
"That's true," replied Chu.
Believe it of not, not all Republicans wanted the $59B project – including the governor in 2002:
Burying the waste in Yucca Mountain is "extremely bad science, extremely bad law and extremely bad public policy," Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, told Congress shortly before the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly last month to back President Bush’s recommendation that Yucca go forward.
::snip::
The Bush administration has pushed hard for Yucca because it wants to expand the use of nuclear power, which now provides 20 percent of the nation’s electricity. The industry wants to build 50 new nuclear power plants by 2020 at existing sites, but says it won’t have enough space to expand unless the waste is moved.
While I generally have a problem with NIMBYs, I wouldn't want this in my back yard either. More here if you don’t know the history of Yucca Mountain -- or only know of it from the "diamonds or pearls" questioner in the primary debates.
What a difference real science makes.
Does Obama get double on the promises kept meter for this? It’s a twofer – energy and the environment.