S. 104 - Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997
(Murkowski (R-AK) and 27 cosponsors)

The Administration is committed to resolving the complex and important issue of nuclear waste storage in a timely and sensible manner. The Federal government's long-standing commitment to permanent, geological disposal should remain the basic goal of high-level radioactive waste management policy. This Administration has instituted planning and management initiatives to accelerate progress on assessing Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a permanent geologic disposal site, and urges the Congress to provide sufficient resources to allow the Administration to complete the Yucca Mountain viability assessment in 1998.

S. 104, however, would effectively establish Nevada as the site of an interim nuclear waste storage facility before the viability assessment of Yucca Mountain as a permanent geologic repository is completed. Moreover, even if Yucca Mountain is determined not to be viable for a permanent repository, the bill would provide no plausible opportunity to designate a viable alternative as an interim storage site. Any potential siting decision concerning such a facility ultimately should be based on objective, science-based criteria and informed by the likelihood of the success of the Yucca Mountain site.

In addition, the Administration strongly objects to the bill's weakening of existing environmental standards by preempting all Federal, State, and local laws inconsistent with the environmental requirements of this bill and the Atomic Energy Act. This preemption would effectively replace EPA's authority to set acceptable radiation release standards with a statutory standard and would create loopholes in the National Environmental Policy Act.