Bill Would Not Allow Storage Of More N-Waste At Hanford

President Clinton would be prohibited from designating the Hanford Nuclear Reservation an interim storage facility for highly radioactive wastes under a proposal a Senate panel tentatively approved Wednesday.

On a 10-5 vote, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the prohibition as an amendment by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to a broader nuclear waste bill.

“Using Hanford to park tens of thousands of tons of additional nuclear waste when they are not dealing adequately with safety there now is just unacceptable,” Wyden said in an interview.

“It is the last place in the United States that ought to be considered as an interim storage site for high-level nuclear waste.

“They already are storing over 2,000 metric tons of high-level spent nuclear fuel in leaking pools that are about a quarter of a mile from our life blood, the Columbia River.”

The panel is expected to take a vote on the overall bill today and send it to the full Senate, which could vote on it before the end of the month.

It calls for construction of an interim facility at the Nevada Test Site near the area known as Yucca Mountain, which has been proposed as the long-term repository for high-level wastes.

Under the bill, Clinton has the option of picking another interim site if the Nevada location proves unsuitable.

The suitability of Yucca Mountain as a temporary site is to be determined by September 1998.