House Blocks Shipment Of Nuke Waste Plan Was Part Of Budget Bill Killed By Fight Over Abortion

Less than 24 hours after suffering a major appellate court defeat, the nuclear Navy was handed yet another setback on Friday in its campaign to resume dumping its radioactive waste in Idaho.

Conservative Republicans joined forces with House Democrats to overwhelmingly reject a compromise defense appropriation that authorized the Navy to begin shipping spent fuel from its nuclear warships to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory next week.

That mandate overriding an existing federal court ban on new waste shipments fell victim to the decision of congressional negotiators to water down another provision prohibiting abortions in overseas military hospitals.

After the 267-151 defeat in the House, the appropriation must be reconsidered by congressional negotiators for possible revision. And with Congress scheduled to recess over the next week, it appeared there would be no action on any provision to resume radioactive shipments to the INEL until mid-October, if then.

Meanwhile, a decision was expected within a matter of days from U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge on the state’s claim that additional nuclear waste cannot be safely dumped at the INEL despite a federal assessment claiming the opposite.

The Batt administration’s courtroom battle to maintain control over nuclear waste shipments scored a victory on Thursday when a threejudge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Navy’s claim that it was entitled to immediately resume waste shipments to Idaho.