Sep 21 - Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

After years of unwavering support for White House nuclear waste policies, Sen. Bob Bennett announced from the Senate floor Tuesday he has reversed course and no longer supports storing spent fuel rods deep underground at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

"I am making it clear that my support for Yucca Mountain . . . does no longer hold in the situation we find ourselves," Bennett said. "It makes sense for (nuclear) waste to be stored on site and to be shipped to a reprocessing center."

The Utah Republican has turned away from Yucca Mountain, both as a location and its deep underground waste storage approach. He said he has turned toward and will lend his unequivocal support to a proposal by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., that all nuclear waste be left at the power plants creating it as the country develops a policy of reprocessing waste.

"Sen. Bennett succinctly and clearly outlined the reasons to oppose both the proposed Yucca Mountain and PFS facilities," Reid said. "The momentum is shifting and the timing is right to address our nuclear waste challenges in a way that offers real, long-term solutions. The safest, most reasonable and effective solution is to store nuclear waste where it is already being produced."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said despite his continuing support of Yucca Mountain storage, he plans to introduce legislation this week calling for a study of waste reprocessing options and a review of safety and operation problems posed by storing waste at power plants and at existing U.S. Department of Energy facilities. Hatch sought to attach that language to an energy bill earlier this year.

"It is important that I keep working on all options to protect our state," Hatch said.

Hatch is facing an intraparty challenge in his re-election bid from Utah House Majority Whip Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, who said the senator is now "on the end of a very thin branch. He'll climb back to the trunk in a hurry."

Bennett's reversal comes days after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted to issue a license to Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of nuclear power utilities, to store spent fuel rods on Goshute tribal lands in Skull Valley, Tooele County.

The NRC decision clearly weighed on Bennett, who cited the risks of PFS to the Utah Test and Training Range, the nation's "last remaining" large land-based training range.

"More military facilities have been closed by encroachment than by BRAC," he said, referring to the nonpartisan commission that recommends to Congress and the White House which bases should be closed.

Bennett's reasoning echoes arguments made for years by opponents of PFS, including Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s office and the offices of the two governors who preceded him.

The simple fact of the matter, Bennett said, is that the volumes of nuclear waste being generated by a resurgent nuclear energy industry means PFS will become permanent even if Yucca Mountain opens.

"Yucca Mountain is not going to become the single repository for nuclear waste," he said, referring to PFS as the alternative repository.

News of Bennett pulling his support was welcomed by groups against having high-level nuclear waste in both Utah and Nevada. They have opposed storage for the same reasons that Bennett cited in his Tuesday speech.

The governor said in a statement that Bennett's new position "represents a highly rational approach and a long-term fix to a problem that promises to affect us short term. I've had the opportunity to discuss this issue with Sen. Reid on several occasions and agree with his conclusions," Huntsman said.

Also welcoming Bennett's decision was Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, which for years has fought both the shipping of high-level nuclear waste and the establishment of a repository in either state.

"We're glad to see the leadership Sen. Bennett is showing, to work with our neighbors in the West and force the generators of this waste to share the responsibility of managing it," said Jason Groenewold, director of HEAL, which is based in Salt Lake City.

Groenewold said he hopes Hatch will soon join in "the call for not dumping nuclear waste on the Western states." The material should be stored where it is generated until the United States develops a reasonable long-term solution, he said, adding that he believes Bennett's speech was needed to help solidify that effort.

"No one was going to come to Utah's aid in this fight to stop nuclear waste storage in Utah unless we reached out and created alliances" with others with a common interest, Groenewold said. "And Sen. Bennett's actions indicate his willingness to extend an olive branch to those who we've alienated in the past."

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and a longtime opponent of Yucca Mountain, added that he "recognized that Utah and Nevada should be united against the arrogance of the East Coast dumping its waste on the West. We still have never addressed the transportation risks, whether on the roads or rails to Skull Valley or Yucca Mountain. That is why this lethal cargo should stay where it is until an acceptable disposal solution can be found."

Sen. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has pledged to advocate for Reid's proposal in the House. Bishop's chief of staff, Scott Parker, said nuclear waste storage is a fight worthy of Western states joining forces. "And Rob has said for a long time that on-site storage seems to make the most sense."

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, agrees with Bennett. "For many reasons, I feel it may be time to rethink the wisdom and necessity of transporting nuclear material cross country and storing it in the western United States. . . . Reprocessing is where we should be focusing our attention, not on the unsafe and potentially hazardous transportation of nuclear material."

The entire issue needs to be rethought, Bennett said. The fundamental principles of that new policy should include unqualified support for more nuclear power, that the nation work toward the technology that would allow reprocessing of waste and that all nuclear waste be left where it is until reprocessing can proceed, he said.

If it is safe to transport nuclear waste, and it is safe to store nuclear waste at an interim storage site like Skull Valley, "by definition it is equally as safe to leave it where it is," he said.

The billions of dollars already invested at Yucca Mountain need not be wasted, nor should the attitude be "fill it up with dirt and leave it." He didn't say what that might be, but a useful purpose that would benefit both Nevada and the country could be found by Congress. Bennett said he would be "happy to join" with the Nevada delegation to find the best solution, admitting again that "it is now clear it (Yucca Mountain) does not make sense."

"Sen. Reid and Sen. Ensign have the right to say 'I told you so,' " he said.

Responded Reid: "I look forward to joining forces with Sen. Bennett as we work to protect our states, the West and the nation."

Contributing: Joe Bauman; Lisa Riley Roche

E-mail: spang@desnews.com