Alternative to Deep Burial of Nuclear Waste is Considered

As the Energy Department falters in its effort to bury nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the nuclear industry and Congress are taking steps toward a radically different storage strategy: putting the waste in huge casks that could be parked in a handful of high-security lots around the country for decades.

That idea advanced on two fronts last month. A panel of judges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended May 24 that a private utility consortium be allowed to open a lot to store 4,000 casks of waste on an Indian reservation west of Salt Lake City. On the same day, the House voted to order the Energy Department to establish similar storage areas, providing $10 million for the project.

In the Senate, Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who is chairman of the Energy Committee, has expressed interest in the concept. And the Energy Department itself has opened the door to considering an alternative to what has long been the favored strategy of deep burial of nuclear wastes.
San Francisco Chronicle