ECA Update: January 23, 2012
Published: Mon, 01/23/12
The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) has urged DOE and OMB to request a fiscal year 2013 budget that fully supports nuclear cleanup work. "As you work to establish this budget request," the January 19 letter said, "we urge you to consider EM's nuclear cleanup work a funding priority." Similar versions of the letter were sent to Secretary Chu and OMB's EM division. ECOS further states it plans to send letters to Congress.
"As states, we understand what it is like to make tough funding decisions. For this budget proposal, we urge DOE to request a strong FY2013 budget for EM that will enable cleanup work to continue in accordance with state-federal agreements." The letter includes a copy of the March 24, 2010 resolution that state environmental agency directors passed, urging DOE to request and Congress to appropriate "fully funded, fully compliant annual budgets for the EM program."
The Post and Courier
January 17, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last week said "I think the people in Nevada should be given an offer with a financial incentive to take the nuclear waste, and if they reject that offer, I think other states can propose an offer of what they would be willing to take, based upon a certain compensation level."
Romney made the comment during a January 16 interview with the South Carolina newspaper The Post and Courier. The complete excerpt regarding Yucca Mountain is copied below:
Cost savings proposed for MOX project at Savannah River Site Rob Pavey, The Augusta Chronicle January 22, 2012 The government's $4.8 billion quest to rid itself of tons of high-grade plutonium from old nuclear bombs is veering in new directions this year.
The broad plan is to build a mammoth mixed oxide, or "MOX" plant at Savannah River Site, where the material will be rendered forever unusable in weapons by blending it into commercial nuclear reactor fuel.
That construction project, entering its sixth year, is moving ahead as planned, said Peter Hanlon, the National Nuclear Security Administration's assistant deputy administrator for fissile materials disposition.
Hanford can expect reasonably level funding for the foreseeable future, said Matt McCormick, manager of the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office.
However, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory could face a possible decrease in federal money for its research programs in the near term, which could require some small-scale layoffs.
McCormick and Roger Snyder, manager of the DOE Pacific Northwest Site Office, discussed federal budget issues at the Tri-Cities Regional Economic Outlook forum Wednesday in Kennewick.
Arizona should begin nuclear recycling Al Melvin, Republican state senator January 23, 2012 Recent articles about my proposed education fund and related spent-nuclear-fuel recycling program have produced some uninformed and negative reactionary responses. I urge everyone in the media and political arena and the voting public to educate themselves about this important subject.
First, commercial recycling of used nuclear fuel has a long and successful history, mostly outside of the United States. The French company Areva has successfully managed a recycling complex for more than 40 years.
Second, approximately 60,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel are stored at nuclear-reactor sites never designed for storing such material. Deep geologic salt beds are the recommended sites for retrievable storage of spent nuclear fuel.
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