[Date Prev][Date Next]
[Chronological]
[Thread]
[Archive Top]
[cdn-nucl-l] Fw: Senator seeks more US reliance on nuclear power
FYI
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael C. Baker <mcbaker@lanl.gov>
To: Multiple recipients of list ans-pie <ans-pie@nuke-ans.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 11:49 AM
Subject: Senator seeks more US reliance on nuclear power
>
> Senator seeks more US reliance on
> nuclear power
>
> USA: March 8, 2001
>
> WASHINGTON - New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete
> Domenici introduced legislation yesterday to spur use
> of nuclear power, saying the measure would promote
> new plant construction and expand technology
> funding for the "safe and environmentally clean fuel."
>
> Entitled the Nuclear Energy Electricity Assurance Act,
the
> senator said the bill would complement a comprehensive
> national energy plan put forward last month by Republican
> leaders in the Senate and blessed by the Bush White
> House.
>
> The nuclear bill aims "to foster greater use of nuclear
> energy while supporting advanced research into
> technologies to minimize wastes created by this
> cost-effective and environmentally sound energy source,"
> Domenici said.
>
> The bill has five major points: supporting nuclear energy
> production; encouraging new plant construction; assuring
a
> level playing field for nuclear power; creating waste
> solutions; and improving Nuclear Regulatory Commission
> (NRC) regulations.
>
> Domenici said national concerns over energy supplies -
> highlighted by power shortages in California in recent
> months - pointed to doing more for nuclear power, since
> alternatives like wind and solar could not pick-up the
burden
> if nuclear production was lost.
>
> Currently, 103 commercial nuclear power plants operate in
> the U.S., providing around 20 percent of the nation's
power.
>
> "Overall, you take fewer risks by doing nuclear power,"
> Domenici said.
>
> Nuclear utilities have been frustrated in recent years by
the
> lack of a federal plan to store some 40,000 tons of spent
> nuclear fuel, currently being stored on-site at plants. A
> separate measure to start storing the highly radioactive
> waste at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert failed last
> year, after the Senate came up one vote short in
overriding
> a veto by then President Bill Clinton.
>
> Following are some key elements of Domenici's
legislation:
>
> * Renews the expiring Price Anderson Law, providing
> liability coverage for nuclear activities.
>
> * Elevates directors for nuclear energy and science at
the
> Energy Department to assistant secretary level.
>
> * Authorizes $60 million for Nuclear Energy Research
> Initiative and $15 million for Nuclear Energy Plant
> Optimization.
>
> * Authorizes $15 million to the Energy Department for
> funding to provide incentives to utilities to make
> efficiency-enhancing capital investments that improve
> electrical capacity by at least 5 percent.
>
> * Enables payment of NRC fees for individual projects and
> gives preferential treatment for projects that would
enable
> one class of improvements to impact many plants.
>
> * Authorizes $18 million in funding to keep domestic
mining
> and conversion industries viable, and funding to place
the
> Portsmouth, Ohio, gaseous diffusion plant into "cold
> standby" at $36 million.
>
> * Authorizes $50 million for Energy Department research
> and development on Generation IV reactors and for
> development of a detailed road map recommending a path
> toward construction of a Generation IV reactor.
>
> * Develops national strategy for spent fuel, including
study
> of reprocessing and transmutation.
>
> * Eliminates provisions that precluded any foreign
> ownership - "owned, controlled, or dominated by an alien,
a
> foreign corporation, or a foreign government" - of power
and
> research reactors located in the U.S.
>
> REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
>
>