Democratic Senator Patty Murray had tough words [today] Thursday for federal Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. She's angry over the decision by the Obama Administration to take Nevada's Yucca Mountain off the table as a possible nuclear waste storage site. Murray says that decision could push back cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington. Or she says it could mean Hanford becomes a permanent storage site for dangerous nuclear waste.
Patty Murray: “This leaves everyone in complete limbo after 30 years of working on this. I just think it's irresponsible for the Department of Energy to discontinue the Yucca Program altogether, its funding, licencing and design.”
Chu responded to Murray that the Administration rejected Nevada's Yucca Mountain for scientific reasons. He added that as some point the government has been "throwing good money after bad." The Obama Administration has appointed a blue ribbon commission to study alternatives for storing the nation's nuclear waste, but it has permanently excluded Nevada's Yucca Mountain as an option. Washington State's Attorney General is fighting that decision.
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