"Obama Administration threatens veto on nuclear funding bill"

As reported by Jaclyn Brandt in FierceEnergy, President Obama has threated to veto the House Energy and Water Appropriations bill (HR 2028), unless changes are made -- such as to better promote renewables.

The very pro-nuclear bill also includes $175 million for the U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission to revive the Yucca Mountain, Nevada high-level radioactive waste dump licensing proceeding. The process was halted when the Obama administration effectively cancelled the project in 2009-2010, de-funding the dump, and even moving to withdraw the application to construct and operate the repository.

As reported by the article:

The president's statement also said the funding for the Yucca Mountain project is a "rejection of the practical solutions proposed in the President's nuclear waste strategy."

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), who has successfully led the opposition to the Yucca dump since the "Screw Nevada bill" of 1987, can be expected to yet again block any additional funding from being wasted on the Yucca dump.

"Fresh Call for Total Removal of Nuclear Waste in Bridgeton"

Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill, where underground fire has been smoldering since December 2010 (Photo: KMOX)Kevin Killeen of KMOX/CBS St. Louis has interviewed Beyond Nuclear board member Kay Drey regarding the radioactive contamination of the West Lake Landfill:

Eighty-two-year-old Kay Drey says people – and politicians – are forgetting that this is a regional threat to our drinking water.

“…This is in the Missouri River floodplain,” she says. “And the Missouri River is what North St. Louis County drinks and then it flows into the Mississippi River, which is what the city of St. Louis drinks.”

She says there’s been so much noise about landfill odor and controlling the underground fire that people have lost site of the endgame – getting the federal government to dig up the nuclear waste and haul it away from St. Louis County.

Drey says the Missouri Congressional Delegation has become so cozy with Ameren campaign money that it’s afraid to speak out against nuclear waste.

Drey wants voters to demand Congress transfer jurisdiction of the landfill from the EPA to the Army Corps of Engineers so that it can be dug up, hauled off and cleaned up.

“We have to remove these wastes,” she says. “They are effecting the water we drink and the air we breathe, and they are going to effect St. Louis until they are removed and isolated and taken away.”

In March 2015, Beyond Nuclear board member Kay Drey and colleagues in St. Louis published a pamphlet entitled "Remove the radioactive wastes NOW! Protect Metro St. Louis' water and air from West Lake Landfill's radioactive contamination!" It includes a map, showing that the radioactive wastes at West Lake Landfill are upstream of the drinking water intakes for North County and the City of St. Louis, on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The pamphlet urges readers to "Please go to www.moenviron.org to sign a letter asking U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt and Congress members William Lacy Clay and Ann Wagner to work to transfer responsibility for West Lake’s radioactive wastes to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."

Declarations of resistance to radioactive waste risks

Irradiated nuclear fuel being moved within a high-level radioactive waste storage poolFrom the Mojave desert of the American Southwest, to the shoreline of the Great Lakes in Canada, resistance to risky radioactive waste burial schemes is intensifying in the U.S. Congress. Meanwhile, grassroots resistance must rise against the latest incarnation of the Mobile Chernobyl bill, and in support of wiser legislation to safeguard and secure irradiated nuclear fuel on-site at reactors.

Yucca Mountain, Nevada

If you're U.S. Representative John Shimkus (R-IL) -- apparently, the Congressman from Exelon Nuclear and the rest of the nuclear power industry -- you see U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid from Nevada's announced retirement as a reason to waste tens of thousands of federal taxpayer dollars by touring the dead U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Yucca Mountain Project site in hopes of resurrecting it. (But then again, Shimkus undertook exactly the same PR stunt, shamelessly in the immediate aftermath of the beginning of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe.)

But if you're U.S. Senator Harry Reid, you redouble your decades-long efforts, with your last two years left in the U.S. Senate, to protect your constituents against the nuclear power industry's endlessly risky schemes. Reid just joined with his Republican colleague, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, to introduce a bill that would give Nevada an absolute veto of any radioactive waste dump targeted at it by other states.

In fact, Nevada's bipartisan, vast majority opposition to the Yucca dump remains as strong as ever, as personified by Republican Governor Brian Sandoval and former Democratic Governor and U.S. Senator Richard Bryan.

Urge your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators to oppose the Yucca Mountain dump (you can phone your Congress Members' office via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121), and thank President Obama for his continuing commitment to cancel the Yucca Mountain Project.

Canada's Great Lakes shoreline radioactive waste dump

Bipartisan resolutions in the U.S. House and Senate have been reintroduced, in opposition to Ontario Power Generation's proposal to bury all of the so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes from 20 reactors across the province less than a mile from the waters of Lake Huron. As reported by the Detroit News, the U.S. House resolution is co-sponsored by 11 Democrats (Duckworth and Schakowsky of Illinois; Conyers, Dingell, Kildee, Lawrence, and Levin of Michigan; Higgins and Slaughter of New York; and Fudge and Kaptur of Ohio) and 4 Republicans (Dold of Illinois; Miller of Michigan; Joyce of Ohio; and Duffy of Wisconsin). The resolution has been designated H. Res. 194. The Detroit Free Press also covered this story.

The U.S. Senate resolution is co-sponsored by Michigan Democrats Stabenow and Peters. An identical resolution last session was co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Baldwin (D-WI), Durbin (D-IL), and Kirk (R-IL), so hopefully they will support this session's too.

If your U.S. Rep. or U.S. Senator(s) have already co-sponsored this resolution, please contact them and thank them (see links above). If your U.S. Rep. or U.S. Senator(s) have not yet co-sponsored this resolution, please urge them to do so. Even if you are not in the Great Lakes Basin, this natural resource (20% of the world's surface fresh water, 86% of North America's surface fresh water, and drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations) is deserving of national protection!

The Canadian federal Joint Review Panel (JRP, comprised of two Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and one Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency panelists) is set to approve the Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) targeted at Kincardine, Ontario as early as May 6th. But opponents have vowed to fight on, even if the JRP grants its approval.

Nearly 150 Native American First Nations, states, counties, cities, towns, and villages -- including Michigan, Chicago, Toledo, and Toronto -- have passed resolutions opposing the DGR. These municipalities represent a population of nearly 20 million Great Lakes Basin residents!

Fukushima Freeways and Parking Lot Dumps

Energy Secretary Moniz, speaking at the pro-nuclear, so-called Bipartisan Policy Committee industry lobbyist front group, has called for passage of Senate Bill 854, the latest incarnation of the Mobile Chernobyl bill. The legislation would rush high-level radioactive waste shipments onto the roads, rails, and waterways, bound for "consolidated interim storage sites" -- more truthfully, de facto permanent parking lot dumps. Please urge your U.S. Senators to oppose S.B. 854.

Safeguarding and Securing High-Level Radioactive Wastes Here and Now

Rather than rushing high-level radioactive waste truck, train, and barge shipments through most states, for no good reason, U.S. Sens. Boxer (D-CA), Markey (D-MA), and Sanders (D-VT) have instead proposed legislation to safeguard and secure irradiated nuclear fuel storage where it currently is -- on-site at reactors. Please urge your U.S. Senators to support the Boxer-Markey-Sanders trio of bills: the "Safe and Secure Decommissioning Act of 2015," the "Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Act of 2015," and the "Dry Cask Storage Act of 2015."

U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, stalwart opponent of Yucca dump, announces he won't seek re-election

U.S. Senate Democratic Leader, Harry Reid of NevadaU.S. Senator Harry Reid (Democrat from Nevada) has announced he won't seek re-election, and will retire 22 months from now. Reid, who has long served as either the U.S. Senate Majority or Minority Leader (depending on the number of Democrats serving in the chamber), has devoted his entire Senate career to successful opposition to the high-level radioactive waste dump targeted at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

In 1987, when the "Screw Nevada" bill was enacted into law, Reid was a rookie U.S. Senator. In "Screw Nevada," other targeted, more populous and politically powerful states -- such as Texas and Washington, as well as Northeastern states -- ganged up on Nevada, singling out Yucca Mountain as the sole location in the country to be further studied as a potential irradiated nuclear fuel and HLRW dump. This, despite the fact that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) already knew by then, via preliminary scientific studies, that the site was unsuitable.

But the nuclear lobbyists picked the wrong rookie Senator to mess with. For nearly three decades, Reid has led a bipartisan Nevada consensus that has blocked the dump at every turn. In 2000, he secured 34 Senate votes, enough to sustain President Clinton's veto of a congressional attempt to rush open the dump, despite incomplete scientific studies. In 2002, he secured 39 Senate votes against Yucca, the most ever. Coming off the Senate floor after that vote, Reid -- a former boxer -- spoke with environmental allies, saying "It's like at the bar. Sometimes, you've just got to take it out back."

Even during the pro-dump George W. Bush administration, Reid was able to put the brakes on multi-billion dollar annual Yucca dump budgets. Working closely with President Barack Obama, Reid convinced the new administration in 2009 to completely defund the project, and even move to withdraw DOE's construction and operating license application. This has resulted in the effective cancelation of the Yucca dump, and dismantlement of its personnel and physical infrastructure, in the past several years.

Even with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress pushing hard to revive the Yucca dump, Reid has continued his adamant opposition. Opponents to countless "Mobile Chernobyl" trucks, trains, and barges of HLRW traveling through most states, and to a radioactive waste dump guaranteed to leak massively if ever opened, owe a huge debt of gratitude to Democratic Leader, U.S. Senator Harry Reid.

Update on March 27, 2015 by admin

For 50 minutes, Adam Burke of KNPR (Nevada's National Public Radio station) interviewed Sen. Reid about his announcement not to seek re-election in 2016. The Yucca Mountain dump fight was discussed (at around the 15:00 minute mark of the interview), as were many other issues. A surprise caller-in (at about the 25:00 minute mark of the interview) was President Barack Obama, who thanked Sen. Reid for his friendship, partnership, and service to Nevada and the country.

"They're baaaaaaaaaack!" The return of the Mobile Chernobyl bill on Capitol Hill

An infrared photo showing the thermal heat of a German CASTOR cask filled with irradiated nuclear fuel being transported by rail to Gorleben. The high-level radioactivity, not the thermal heat, is the hazard to human health, safety, and the environment, however.As trumpeted by its "Gang of Four" co-sponsors (Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Democrats Maria Cantwell of Washington State and Dianne Feinstein of California) in a press release, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2015 has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.

Although the devil is always in the details, and further careful analysis and comparison is required, on the surface it appears that this session's bill is very similar to previous attempts in the Senate to open a "pilot" parking lot dump for commercial high-level radioactive waste in less than a decade, followed a few years later by a full-scale parking lot dump. This included Senate Bill (S.B.) 1240, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013, about which Beyond Nuclear published a comprehensive critique of the scheme's many risks.

As of April 3rd, the current Senate bill, given the bill number S. 854, is not yet available for public review. Only basic information about the proposed legislation is yet available.

Targeted locations for "consolidated" or "centralized interim storage sites" have yet to be specified. However, Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas -- already threatening the adjacent Ogallala Aquifer with so-called "low" level radioactive waste burials -- has volunteered to become a parking lot dump. Pro-nuclear "booster clubs" at Savannah River Site, South Carolina, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, New Mexico, and elsewhere are also blinded by radioactive dollar signs, and offering their "services."

Other top targets include nuclear power plants, such as Dresden in Illinois, as well as Native American reservations. The latter is an egregious example of environmental racism.

The press release speaks of "priority" transfers of irradiated nuclear fuel. "Stranded" or "orphaned" irradiated fuel, from permanently shutdown and even completely decommissioned nuclear power plants, would be given priority by the bill. "Emergency" transfers are also mentioned, as from on-site storage locations at risk of natural disasters.

Even the "pilot" parking lot dump would launch unprecented numbers of HLRW shipments, by truck, train, and/or barge onto the roads, rails, and/or waterways. The full-scale parking lot dump scheme would involve even greater numbers of potential Mobile Chernobyls, Floating Fukushimas, and dirty bombs on wheels.

However, as was made clear by the Private Fuel Storage fiasco, shipments to parking lot dumps could be "returned to sender," if permanent repository plans fall through. If 50 casks of HLRW had ever been shipped from the Maine Yankee atomic reactor and parked at the Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation in Utah, they would have had to be shipped back to their point of origin when the Yucca Mountain, Nevada dump was canceled by the Obama administration. A 4,000-mile round trip, all for naught -- risking radiological disaster every mile of the way, as from severe accidents or even attacks.

As described by a U.S. Department of Energy blog, the Senate bill announcement came on the same day as Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced a major reversal of U.S. radioactive waste policy. Decades-old plans to "co-mingle" nuclear weapons HLRWs and commercial irradiated fuel are over. Separate repositories for permanent disposal of "defense" and commercial HLRWs will now be built. In addition, Moniz expressed full DOE support for congressional calls for "centralized interim storage" parking lot dumps.

Moniz spoke at the Bipartisan Policy Center. A case study of the revolving door between government, industry, and academia, or the incenstuous nature of the nuclear establishment, Moniz served on President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) for America's Nuclear Future from 2010-12. (For that matter, the BRC was housed at DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, charged with promoting the atomic industry!) So too did former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane, as well as Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. BRC member, U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), serves at the Bipartisan Policy Center, as does the former BRC Designated Federal Officer, Timothy Frazier. (As described in his BPC bio, Frazier worked for 20 years, including in the promotional Office of Nuclear Energy, on all aspects of nuclear power and radioactive waste, and even as a nuclear weapons engineer.) John Kotek, currently DOE principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Nuclear Energy, was staff director of the BRC. (See Kotek's DOE blog, linked above.)

The simultaneous timing of Moniz's announcements, and the Senate bill launch, begs the question: were they coincidental, or coordinated?