House Republican targets Sen. Kerry for Yucca Mountain opposition

A top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee criticized Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for his opposition to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository this week, arguing that lawmakers who are unsupportive of the Nevada storage site are effectively ensuring that high-level nuclear waste remains in their states.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), chairman of the committee’s Environment panel, noted in a floor speech Thursday that the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Massachusetts holds spent fuel in above-ground pools.

“The waste is stored above ground in pools, very similar to Fukushima Daiichi in Japan,” Shimkus said, referring to the Japanese nuclear power plant that suffered a meltdown earlier this year. “At Yucca the waste will be stored 1,000 feet underground. Above the ground in pools; 1,000 feet underground. I think Yucca is a better location.”

In opposing the long-delayed Yucca repository, Kerry and other critics are ensuring that spent fuel remains in their states, Shimkus argued.

“Sen. Kerry voted against [Yucca],” Shimkus said. “Now, Pilgrim is in the State of Massachusetts. Based upon his statement, I guess Sen. Kerry feels that Pilgrim is a more safe and secure location than Yucca Mountain.”

Shimkus said that approval of the Yucca Mountain site — which the Obama administration scuttled last year and which faces major opposition from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and others — would allow the spent fuel being held at nuclear plants all over the country to be secured in a central location in Nevada.

“The point being, there is high-level nuclear waste stored all over this country, and a single repository at Yucca Mountain makes sense for all of the right reasons: It's over 100 miles from the largest city; it's in the desert; it would be underneath a mountain. There is no more safe, secure location,” he said.

Shimkus has been critical of other lawmakers who oppose Yucca in recent weeks, making the same argument regarding spent fuel at nuclear plants in Washington, Michigan and Georgia.

But the Obama administration has effectively killed the Yucca Mountain site.

Still, Shimkus and other Republicans in Congress have led the charge to revive the project. House GOP spending legislation continues funding for the project and prevents use of funds for shutting it down.

But not all Republicans support Yucca Mountain. Many of the presidential candidates, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have said they do not support Yucca because so many people in Nevada, a key state in the presidential campaign, oppose the project.

A spokeswoman for Kerry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.