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U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett has changed his mind about the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump and now plans to join Nevada lawmakers in pushing for legislation that will keep the radioactive fuel where it is.
"However much the idea of a single repository may have made sense decades ago, it's now clear that it does not make sense and we need to move in some future direction," said the Utah Republican in a Senate floor speech Tuesday.
In publicly renouncing his past position - a rarity in Congress - Bennett allied himself with Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and other political leaders in the state's fight to block a private waste-storage site on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation, about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. In the same stroke he isolated his fellow Utah Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Federal nuclear regulators rebuffed the state's protests against the facility and signed off earlier this month on a license for a consortium called Private Fuel Storage (PFS). The site has been designed as temporary storage for up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel on its way to permanent disposal in Yucca Mountain.
Bennett, widely regarded as a political pragmatist, also pledged Tuesday to back Nevada, which has successfully battled the Yucca Mountain repository for more than two decades. In a historic Senate vote three years ago, Bennett voted with the majority in a 60-39 decision to override Nevada's Yucca Mountain veto and continue federal work on the repository.
At the time, Bennett maintained the best way to protect Utah from nuclear waste was to speed the stuff to Yucca Mountain. The vote generated friction between both Utah senators and their Nevada counterparts.
But on Tuesday, Bennett acknowledged that Yucca Mountain probably will never be approved as the nation's nuclear repository. He lauded Nevada leaders' vision and said they have ''earned the right to say to the rest of us, 'I told you so.' . . . I say I will be happy to join with you, too, in seeing how we can think this thing through and get the best solution for our nation and all of those who live here.''
Nevada Sens. John Ensign, a Republican, and Harry Reid, the Senate's Democratic leader, have proposed a plan that would prevent waste from being moved from the 65 nuclear plants where it is currently stored. Simultaneously, the federal government would be required to revisit the possibility of reprocessing spent fuel.
Reid was quick to praise Bennett after the speech, saying the Utahn had "succinctly and clearly" laid out reasons for opposing both Yucca Mountain and the Skull Valley facility.
"The momentum is shifting and the timing is right to address our nuclear waste challenges in a way that offers real, long-term solutions," he said.
"I have spent 20 years fighting the absurd idea that massive quantities of deadly nuclear waste can be transported across thousands of miles," Reid added. "I look forward to joining forces with Sen. Bennett as we work to protect our states, the West and the nation."
It also puts Bennett on the same page as most other Utah political leaders. Rep. Rob Bishop said after the PFS license was granted Sept. 9 that he would explore working to move Reid's plan in the House. Rep. Jim Matheson had previously endorsed Reid's proposal and Rep. Chris Cannon is warming to the idea.
However, Bennett's switch put him at odds with key members of his own party, including President Bush and Hatch.
Bennett's announcement is a rebuke to the continued policy of the Bush administration. In March, Bennett and Hatch met with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and deputy Karl Rove and left the meeting committed to Yucca Mountain as the best way to block the Skull Valley storage site.
Then on Tuesday, Hatch restated that he would continue pursuing his own strategy, an increasingly isolated position among the delegation. He said he plans to re-introduce an Energy Bill amendment this week as a stand-alone bill.
"I have very important meetings coming up concerning the [Skull Valley] project, and it is important that I keep working on all options to protect our state," Hatch said in a press statement from his Washington office.
"The amendment to the Energy bill I filed would have put a stop to the Skull Valley site. It would begin a study of alternatives such as reprocessing, storing the waste onsite, and storing the waste at existing Department of Energy sites."
Hatch and Bennett had previously cited assurances from the companies that make up PFS that they would not pursue storing waste in Utah if Yucca Mountain were built in a timely manner.
Bennett's admission that Yucca is unlikely to ever be constructed also acknowledges the companies' promise may be moot.
Huntsman was among those who backed Bennett's new position.
"It represents a highly rational approach and a long-term fix to a problem that promises to affect us short-term," he said in a statement issued through spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi.
Vanessa Pierce of the group Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah said Bennett's change of heart is a good first step.
"We're glad to see Senator Bennett extend an olive branch to our neighbors," she said. "Hopefully, Senator Hatch will soon join the effort to keep nuclear waste out of the West."
Bennett emphasized in his speech that he still favors nuclear power - both as a tool to address growing energy needs and to minimize the coal-power emissions that contribute to global warming.
He said the United States should be using more nuclear energy, as other nations do, and looking harder at reprocessing.
He also offered many reasons why the Skull Valley site is a bad solution. He said:
* The site is close to the Utah Test and Training Range, the largest test-bombing range in the continental United States;
l It lacks the security that Yucca Mountain or nuclear-plant sites provide;
* It would be better to keep waste in the federal government's hands, rather then under the control of a private entity; and
l There is significant danger - of a terrorist attack, for instance - in moving the waste from place to place.